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Abstract
Currently, the Peracarida contains important crustacean groups, such as Isopoda or Amphipoda, that incubate their young in a brood pouch. However, the fossil record of Peracarida is rather poor and the evolutionary pathways leading to their remarkable reproductive strategy are incompletely documented. In this study, we describe the first fossil evidence of extended brood care in Peracarida, based on two Oniscidea (Isopoda) gravid females preserved in Miocene Chiapas amber from Mexico. These adult specimens are preserved with several mancas at a terminal stage of development, some remaining trapped in the marsupial structures of the adults. The well-preserved adults and mancas are described and assigned to the family ‘Philosciidae’, currently one of the most diverse and abundant oniscidean families in tropical biotopes and wetlands habitats. A new genus – Aquitanoscia gen. nov. – and two new species – Aquitanoscia chiapasensis sp. nov. and A. maternus sp. nov. – are figured and described. Finally, the physiological, morphological and behavioural conservation of the reproductive strategies of the Peracarida is discussed.
http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2F3E2805-0EC4-4DFD-BA33-BDC2C7962E61
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Gerardo Carbot and Marco Coutiño (Museo de Paleontología Eliseo Palacios Aguilera, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas) for support in fieldwork and curation of specimens. Our sincere gratitude goes to Jorge Balcázar and to Elena Centeno (Instituto de Geología, UNAM) for their kind support. M. L. Serrano-Sánchez thanks the support of the Posgrado en Ciencias de La Tierra (UNAM) and CONACyT.