A new furry lobster (Achelata, Synaxidae) and a forgotten crab (Brachyura, Homolidae) from the Early Cretaceous of France

A new species of furry lobster (Decapoda, Achelata, Synaxidae) from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) of Cheminon (Marne, France) is herein described. Cretapalibythus moniquae n. gen., n. sp. is erected based on two main morphological characters: the unarmed, rimmed, rostral margins and one elongate, prominent, unarmed anterolateral spine. It represents the first record of a furry lobster from the Early Cretaceous, filling the gap between the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian of France) and the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian of Lebanon) synaxids. A species of brachyuran crab – Prosopon gignouxi Van Straelen, 1928 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Homolidae) – from the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian) of Loriol-sur-Drôme (Drôme, France) is reappraised based on the rediscovery of its holotype. After its original report, this species was completely forgotten, and disappeared from the literature. It is herein placed in the genus Laeviprosopon Glaessner, 1933, recently reassigned to the Homoloidea De Haan, 1839, and a systematic discussion is elaborated with Laeviprosopon icaunensis (Van Straelen, 1936), the second species known from the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian) of France.