Palaeocambarus

Palaeocambarus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
Specimen from the Yixian Formation of China
Scientific classification
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Palaeocambarus

Taylor, Schram & Shen, 1999
Species:
P. licenti
Binomial name
Palaeocambarus licenti
(Van Straelen, 1928)
Type species
Astacus licenti
Van Straelen, 1928
Synonyms
  • Cricoidoscelus aethus Taylor et al., 1999
  • Astacus spinirostrius Imaizumi, 1938
  • Mongolarachne chaoyangensis Cheng et al., 2019

Palaeocambarus is an extinct genus of crayfish discovered in the Yixian Formation in China, with only a single species, Palaeocambarus licenti. It is one of the oldest known fossil crayfish.

The genus Cricoidoscelosus is now considered to be a junior synonym. It was initially believed to be Late Jurassic (Tithonian) in age, but it is now confirmed to have been Early Cretaceous (Barremian-Aptian) in age.