Macrophthalmus Fossil Sea Crab Crustacean Prehistoric Pliocene Collection (1)

Fossil Sea Crab Invertebrate mm 147 x 50 x 16 gr 66.3 Macrophthalmus latreillei Arthropods Crustacea  Malacostraca Decapoda Brachyura Prehistoric Extinct Cenozoic Tertiary Pliocene Collecting Paleontology Museum.

Remarkable fossil find of a Crab Pleocyemata from the late Pliocene of Madagascar, a representative collectible specimen of high quality and in perfect condition, with clear and appreciable details of the cephalothorax with the abdomen folded underneath, the claws intact and three incomplete limbs.
Carapace dimension (claws and legs not included) mm 52 x 40.
Only a piece, as in photos.

Crabs are Decapod Crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (from Greek "short tail"), which typically have a very short protruding abdomen, usually completely hidden under the thorax.
They live in all the world's oceans, in fresh water and on land, are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton and have only a single pair of pincers, called claws. Many other animals with similar names, such as horseshoe crabs (Limuli) are not true crabs, least of all Scorpions, although they also have claws.
The first certain crab fossils date back to the Jurassic, although the Carboniferous Imocaris, known only from its carapace, can be considered a primitive crab. The radiation of crabs from the Cretaceous onward may be linked either to the breakup of Gondwana or to the concomitant radiation of bony fishes, the primary predators of the crabs.
The genus Macrophtalmus still exists, with around fifty species widespread in the Indo-Pacific.