.9" Fossil Mantis Shrimp (Pseudosculda) and Shrimp - Hakel, Lebanon

Fossil Mantis Shrimp (Pseudosculda) and Shrimp - Hakel, Lebanon #256049

This is a .9", fossil mantis shrimp (Pseudosculda) from near Hakel, Lebanon. There are nearly 450 species of mantis shrimp alive today and they are sometimes referred to as "thumb splitters" because of how they use their powerful claws to inflict damage to prey with a single strike. This one is coated heavily in dendrites. A second unidentified shrimp (1.15") is also on this plate.

The discovery of amazingly preserved marine fossils near Hakel, Lebanon dates back many centuries. In fact, they were first mentioned in writing by Herodotus, over 450 years before the birth of Christ. The first scientific work on these localities began in the 1800s: these deposits have been meticulously quarried by several Lebanese families for over a century. We purchase our specimens directly from one of these families.

These deposits represent a warm, shallow sea of the Middle Cretaceous, and have yielded over 70 types of fish and numerous other genera found nowhere else in the world. The preservation on many of these specimens is truly amazing: many examples of soft bodied preservation have been found.

A photo of the quarry at Hakel, Lebanon