A 100-million-year-old crab found beautifully preserved in amber is shedding new light on this iconic group of animals.
New research in Science Advances describes the first known fossil crab from the dinosaur era. That the crab was found preserved in amber is a major win for paleontologists, given the rarity of such things. Plops of tree resin are famous for preserving bugs, microorganisms, plant material, feathers, and the occasional bird. But as for resin trapping crabs and other apparent sea creatures, not so much. Indeed, by getting tangled in tree resin, this crab is telling us something about its behavior and the environment in which it once lived; a sea creature, this animal was not.
