New record of crabs and lobsters from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) of Haute-Marne, France

The present study documents eight new specimens of decapod crustaceans from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) of Haute-Marne (Grand Est, France), located on the eastern margin of the Paris Basin. They are assigned to Eryma Meyer, 1840, with E. vocontii Devillez, Charbonnier, Hyžný & Leroy, 2016 (Erymidae Van Straelen, 1925), Rathbunopon Stenzel, 1945, with R. brisaci n. sp. (Prosopidae Meyer, 1860), Paranecrocarcinus Van Straelen, 1936, with P. perchati n. sp. (Necrocarcinidae Förster, 1968), and Joeranina Van Bakel, Guinot, Artal, Jagt & Fraaije, 2012, with J. scheitzi n. sp. (Palaeocorystidae Lőrenthey in Lőrenthey & Beurlen, 1929). The lobster Eryma vocontii was previously known by a few fossils only found at the type locality, in the South-East Basin of France, 360 km southward. This new occurrence suggests a significantly broader distribution for this species. A notable aspect of one of the new specimens is the presence of an epibiontic mollusk fixed on the carapace, representing the first documented instance of such an association with an Early Cretaceous erymid lobster. Rathbunopon brisaci n. sp. represents the second record of this genus in France, after the record of R. tuberculatum (Van Straelen, 1936) from the Hauterivian of Auxerre (Yonne, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). The new species confirms the stratigraphic range of the genus limited to the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian-Albian)-early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian). Paranecrocarcinus perchati n. sp. represents the second report of this genus from the Early Cretaceous of France, after the record of the type-species P. hexagonalis Van Straelen, 1936 from the Hauterivian of Auxerre (Yonne, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). Joeranina scheitzi n. sp. represents the second species of Joeranina found in the Early Cretaceous of France.