Published on 28 July 2017
This volume is dedicated to fossil crustaceans (Crustacea: Decapoda, Isopoda, Lophogastrida, Stomatopoda, Cirripedia) from the Late Cretaceous Konservat-Lagerstätten in Lebanon, Middle East. Even though knowledge about these groups has increased during recent years, fossil crustaceans from Lebanon remain poorly studied and their importance widely underestimated. The main purpose of this volume is to provide a new synthesis taking into account both the historical works and recent advances in crustacean studies. An overall review of the fossil crustacean faunas is presented and encompasses material from Cenomanian (Hakel, Hadjoula, En Nammoura) and Santonian (Sahel Alma) outcrops. The taxonomic treatment includes detailed descriptions of each species known to occur in the aforementioned Lagerstätten. All the diagnoses and descriptions are presented using standard criteria and common descriptive terminology. As much as was possible, the authors endeavoured to figure all the species recorded in the literature with photographs and reproductions of the historical illustrations. Thus, approximately 900 specimens have been studied and are illustrated in 530 figures. This revision also greatly improves our knowledge of fossil crustaceans by providing formal descriptions of thirteen new genera and twenty new species.
Sylvain Charbonnier is curator of fossil crustaceans at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris). Denis Audo is postdoctoral researcher at the Université of Rennes. Alessandro Garassino is curator of fossil crustaceans at the Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano (Italie). Matúš Hyžný is postdoctoral researcher at the Université Comenius of Bratislava (Slovaquie). All four are specialists of Mesozoic and Cenozoic crustaceans.