Description

Early Cretaceous (Berriasian)
Yixian Formation
Huangbangi Valley, Beipiao, Liaoning Province, China

Ultra-rare 63mm notostracan arthropod on 112mm slab and one of the nicest we’ve had.

Arthropod. Crustacean.

It’s not exactly a fossil “sea monkey” but maybe as close as you’re going to get in the marketplace. Sea monkeys are actually a kind of brine shrimp. Weichangops belongs to a different order of crustaceans, the Notostraca, which includes the tadpole shrimp still living today.

Take a look at this short video produced by the National Park Service about the living species called Triops:

Also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notostraca