Description

Unusuropode castroi Duarte & Santos, 1962
Cretaceous
Gara Sbaa Member, Akrabou Formation
Gara Sbaa, Morocco

9mm positive marine Isopod.

Isopods belong to an order of crustaceans that dates back to the Carboniferous Period – first-known from the Mazon Creek fauna.  They are quite uncommon overall in the fossil record.  Biologists have studied modern ones the size of a lobster that were collected from great ocean depths but most are small like the “roly-polies” you can find in your own backyard.