Callichimaera perplexa (or, Arthropoda's Answer to Halszkaraptor)

[Ravonium]

A new genus of crabs from the mid-Cretaceous (95mya) of the USA and Colombia was recently described, and all I have to say is; I think we've already found the oddest, coolest and cutest discovery of 2019!





Phys Article on this discovery: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-callichimaera-perplexa-platypus-crabs.html?fbclid=IwAR0KpOCsazrY7uUN3jaCcJUVzjrVnCFUO8GC1TmE3RolCyYHXC135mhOMAE

Paper (open access): https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaav3875/tab-pdf

[Faelrin]

It looks like something one could make Spore (definitely the googly eyes). Pretty interesting and adorable looking crab though (though I think most crabs are cute anyways).

[Jose S.M.]

That reconstruction is certainly adorable. I've always like those fossils like the one shown here and others in the paper where you can see an impression of the whole animal in the rock. And I agree with @Faelrin crabs are great!

[Halichoeres]

This thing is practically a Pokemon.