Pseudoscapholeberis, Flössner & Fryer, 2016

Flössner, Dietrich & Fryer, Geoffrey, 2016, An Early Cretaceous anomopod (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) preserved in amber that reveals an unexpected venture during the evolution of the order, Journal of Natural History 50, pp. 1291-1304 : 1293-1295

Pseudoscapholeberis gen. nov.

Female. General form, as seen laterally, showing similarities to the extant Scapholeberis . Ventral margins of carapace straight: armed with row of close-set robust setae. Entire posterior margin of carapace valves with fringe of setae in a single row. Postero-ventral corner of carapace valves with posterior prolongation. Dorsal margin broadly curved. No depression between head and carapace. Head with dorsally directed, curved, frontal spine. Postabdomen elongate; somewhat bilaterally compressed; and – unique within the Anomopoda – clearly segmented distally, where four segments make up a little more than half its total length. Terminal claws long, stout and much recurved. Ventral armature of at least four, probably five, very long paired marginal spines.

Type species Pseudoscapholeberis enigmatica sp. nov.

Differential diagnosis

This genus resembles Scapholeberis in having straight ventral carapace margins, armed with a row of long setae; a mucro-like process at the postero-ventral corner of each valve (but here drawn out as a conspicuous, more or less triangular, prolongation); and a curved spine on the front of the head, not known in any other daphniid genus (but not universal in Scapholeberis ). It differs in the absence of a depression between the carapace and the head, and in the presence of a row of setae on the posterior margin of the carapace.

It differs markedly from all other daphniid, and indeed from all other anomopod, genera, in having a clearly segmented postabdomen that bears distinctive, long, recurved terminal claws.