A new tealliocaridid crustacean from the Late Carboniferous of North China and its biogeographic implications

A new tealliocaridid eumalacostracan is described from the Late Carboniferous Tupo Formation (Ningxia, China). Laevitealliocaris xiaheyanensis gen. et sp. nov. is represented by a single specimen, characterised by the possession of a short rostrum without dorsal spine, a short postcervical carina and only one weak branchial carina, both tuberculate, and a short sixth pleonal somite. This is the first unequivocal record of tealliocaridids outside Euramerica, which occurrence along the eastern inner margin of the Palaeotethys suggests that these crustaceans were more widely distributed than previously recognised, very likely extending to the whole intertropical area. The new occurrence demonstrates that tealliocaridids had strong dispersal capacities, interestingly challenging their affinities with peracarids, which today do not have free-living larvae, unlike decapod crustaceans.