Fossil Reef

Fossil Reef

Credit: Adiël Klompmaker

The limestones on southern wall of the Koskobilo quarry in northern Spain yielded 36 decapod crustacean species, eight of which are brand-new to science, including two of the world's oldest spider crabs known to date.

Teensy Crab

Teensy Crab

Credit: Cretaceous Research

A new species of tiny fossil crab, Graptocarcinus texanus discovered in limestones of the Koskobilo quarry in northern Spain.

Digging into the Past

Digging into the Past

Credit: Adiel Klompmaker

Lead researcher Adiel Klompmaker at the Koskobilo quarry in northern Spain.

Michael Jackson Crab

Michael Jackson Crab

Credit: Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie

Klompmaker was also part of a team that discovered a new hermit crab (carapace shown here) at the same quarry, naming it after Michael Jackson (Mesoparapylocheles michaeljacksoni), as it was found around the time the singer died.

Spider Crab

Spider Crab

Credit: Cretaceous Research

Here, a fossil of one of the new species of spider crab, named Cretamaja granulata, found at the quarry and dating back 100 million years.

Pear Shaped

Pear Shaped

Credit: Cretaceous Research

Scientists could tell C. granulata was a spider crab by some of its distinctive features, including two diverging spines coming out of its rostrum and a somewhat pear-shaped carapace, or the shell covering its body. The fossil spider crab also sported spines on its sides at the front of the body.

Newfound Crab

Newfound Crab

Credit: Cretaceous Research

The carapace of the newfound crab Laeviprosopon crassumI. The legs and tail part were not preserved. (Scale bar is 1.0 mm)

Fossil Crab

Fossil Crab

Credit: Cretaceous Research

Another newfound crab, called Albenizus minutus, from the quarry in northern Spain. The crab was teensy, with a length of just 3.2 millimeters, not including its rostrum (the extension of the shell in front of the eyes).