A New Species of Mecochirid Lobster from the Late Cretaceous of France, Preserved with Its Eggs

The discovery of Mecochirus cenomanicus n. sp. (Decapoda, Glypheoidea, Mecochiridae) from the Cenomanian stratotype (Le Mans, France) extends the biostratigraphic range of Mecochirus Germar, 1827 from the Early to the Late Cretaceous. The holotype preserves under the pleon about 80 large eggs carried by the pleopods, and thus represents the second record of a decapod crustacean fossilized with clusters of eggs. The size and number of eggs suggest an ontogenetic development like that of the extant decapod crustaceans with short larval stage.