Peru - Fossil shrimp from the Cretaceous period was found there 3 thousands and 700 meters altitute

A fossil shrimp of Cretaceous, this, found in Lebanon, similar to discovered at Peru.

PERU - In the northeastern region of Peruvian Amazon, Maranhão river basin, scientists found fossilized remains of a shrimp that belongs to Cretaceous geological period. It means that the specimen lived there is 85 million of years. In the city of Chiclayo, the director of the Paleontological Museum Honning Meyer, the paleontologist Klaus Honning, commented: It is a remarkable find because the muscles of the fossil are still intact. It is a very rare specimen, measuring 12 cm and gifted with four paws.

In January this year (2011), the age of this fossil and others was confirmed by the Institute of Prehistory of Germany. The location of the find can appears strange for a marine animal: 3 thousands and 700 meters above sea level. But it is not a suprise for the scientists. In the same region were also found fossilized remains of a squid that belongs to the same period.

Honning explains that in the place, in ancient Ages, a kind of salt lagoon was formed in there. Thus, these animals have evolved in the conditions of an ecosystem more or least isolated. The study of the shrimp of Cretaceous shrimp helps to better understand the evolutionary process of species that inhabited the seas of a geography that no more exist.

SOURCE: Peru: Descoberto camarão fossilizado do Cretáceo a 3 mil e 700 metros de altitute.
IN Google Notícias/AFP - published in 02/09/2011.
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