Tanzanonautes tuerkayi

Tanzanonautes tuerkayi is a species of fossil freshwater crab from Tanzania, the only species in the genus Tanzanonautes. It is the oldest known freshwater crab, and probably dates from the Oligocene; the next oldest specimens are from the Miocene. A number of fragmentary remains were discovered in the Songwe Valley part of the East African Rift in Mbeya Region, Tanzania, in fragile sandstone sediments. The animal had a carapace around 50 millimetres (2.0 in) across the widest part, which is around 15 mm (0.6 in) from the front of the carapace; the carapace is 44 mm (1.7 in) from front to back, and the slightly inward-curving rear edge of the carapace is 28 mm (1.1 in) across. The genus name refers to Tanzania, the country where the fossil was found, while the specific epithet commemorates Michael Türkay, an authority on freshwater crabs. The genus Tanzanonautes is assigned to the family Potamonautidae, although the characters mentioned in the family's diagnosis are missing from the fragmentary fossils available.

No picture of Tanzanonautes tuerkayi was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Tanzanonautes tuerkayi, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TanzanonautesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Decapoda
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Potamoidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Malacostraca
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Malacostraca

Time the record covers

At most 11 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 33.9 Mya and 23.04 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Eocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesOligocene — about 2 of 2 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 2 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–33 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences32–32 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences31–31 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences30–30 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences30–30 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences28–28 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34.4 Mya22.5 Mya

2 occurrences of Tanzanonautes tuerkayi on record, most of them in the Oligocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

2 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Nsungwe — 8.90°S, 33.45°ENsungwe — 8.93°S, 33.20°E

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The named rock units Tanzanonautes tuerkayi has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Tanzanonautes tuerkayi and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Tanzanonautes tuerkayi and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

2 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Tanzanonautes tuerkayi, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 2 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Tanzanonautes tuerkayi was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Tanzanonautes tuerkayi, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Tanzanonautes tuerkayi was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTanzanonautes through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Feldmann et al. 2007