Fossil sponge gemmules, epibionts of Carpopenaeus garassinoi n. sp. (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Sahel Alma Lagerstätte (Late Cretaceous, Lebanon)

The fossil crustaceans from the Sahel Alma Lagerstätte (Late Cretaceous, Lebanon), housed in the collection de Paléontologie of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, were examined in order to highlight the presence of epibionts. Marine sponge gemmules were recognized and are described for the first time on the rostrum of a new shrimp Carpopenaeus garassinoi Charbonnier n. sp. The exceptional conditions of fossilization in the Sahel Alma Lagerstätte also permitted the preservation of the gemmule germination and the first development stage of the young sponge. If the shrimp does not appear to benefit from the association, it ensures the transport and the colonization of new territories for the sponge. This association sponge/shrimp is not known either in the recent or in the past. It represents one of the first observations of a fossil shrimp epibiont. Carpopenaeus garassinoi Charbonnier n. sp. is the youngest record for the genus Carpopenaeus Glaessner, 1945 which was previously known from the Tithonian of Zandt (Germany) and from the Cenomanian of Lebanon (Hakel, Hadjoula Lagerstätten).