Article: Phosphatized ostracods with appendages from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil

A new ostracod, Pattersoncypris micropapillosa gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Aptian to Albian Santana Formation, Serra do Araripe, Ceara, Brazil. Of the 253 specimens obtained, 138 are complete carapaces of which 103 contain appendages in an excellent state of preservation. Of the total number of specimens only 15 are pre-adult instars and 6 are males. A small number (24) of single valves possibly represent moulted carapaces, the remainder were living up to the time of burial and fossilization. The original calcium carbonate and chitin of the ostracod was replaced by apatite immediately after death. The ostracods were found entombed with a teleost fish, Cladocyclus gardneri Agassiz, the decaying body of which, on which the ostracods are considered to have been feeding, is considered to have been the source of the phosphate salts responsible for the mineralization of the ostracod anatomy.