First report of a polychelid lobster (Crustacea: Decapoda: Coleiidae) from the Early Cretaceous of Italy

We report Coleia appenninica n. sp. (Coleiidae VAN STRAELEN, 1925) discovered inside a concretion from Calderino, Northern Apennines (Bologna, Emilia Romagna, N Italy). In this area, blocks and rare concretions are present from the Lower and Upper Cretaceous, coming from the washing away of clays of the "Argille Varicolori del Samoggia unit" (AVS). The discovery of this species is exceptional not only for the rarity of fossils inside these blocks, but also because it extends the stratigraphical range for the genus to, at least, the Early Cretaceous. Coleia appenninica n. sp. represents the third unambiguous record of a Cretaceous polychelid decapod in the Tethyans realm.