''Notahomarus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

belonging to the family

Nephropidae Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

that is known from fossils found only in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. The type species, ''N. hakelensis'', was initially placed within the genus ''

Homarus ''Homarus'' is a genus of lobsters, which include the common and commercially significant species ''Homarus americanus'' (the American lobster) and ''Homarus gammarus'' (the European lobster). The Cape lobster, which was formerly in this genus ...

'' in 1878, but it was transferred to the genus ''Notahomarus'' in 2017.

Fossil record

These lobsters are related to the modern-day lobsters. They lived in warm, shallow seas during the

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

period (93.9–100.5 m.y.a.). Fossils have been found at fossil sites in

Hjoula Hjoula ( ar, حجولا) is a municipality in the Byblos District of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is 70 kilometers north of Beirut. Hjoula has an elevation of between 920 and 1,100 meters above sea level. Hjoula has a total land area o ...

and

Mayfouq Mayfouq ( ar, ميفوق) is a village and municipality in the Byblos District of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is located 64 km north of Beirut. Mayfouq has an average elevation of 860 meters above sea level and its total land area ...

.Liliana Póvoas, Pedro Danta
"Homarus hakelensis Fraas 1878 and clupeomorph fishes"
in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2017.

Description

''Notahomarus'' could reach a length of about , with antennae.A. Garasson
The macruran decapod crustaceans of the Upper Cretaceous of Lebanon
Paleontologia Lombarda, Nuova Serie - Vol. Ill - Pl. X

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q30693425 Late Cretaceous crustaceans Fossil taxa described in 2017 True lobsters Fossils of Lebanon Cretaceous Lebanon Late Cretaceous arthropods of Asia