![]() The species name is based on "athanatos," which means immortal in Greek, referring to its lifelike preservation in amber. The name references the Cretaceous, the dinosaur-era period during which this crab lived, and Apsara, a spirit of the clouds and waters in South and Southeast Asian mythology. The Chinese, US and Canadian scientists working on the amber specimen, which originated from northern Myanmar, named the tiny crab Cretapsara athanata. ![]() He was the lead author of the study that published Thursday in the journal Science Advances. It's absolutely complete and is not missing a single hair on the body, which is remarkable," said Javier Luque, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, in a news release. "The specimen is spectacular, it is one of a kind. Now, scientists have found the oldest aquatic animal preserved in amber - and it's the most complete crab fossil ever discovered. However, all these creatures were land lubbers that you might expect to encounter on a tree trunk or branch. Fossils trapped in amber have been among paleontology's most fascinating finds in recent years - globs of hardened ancient tree resin have captured tantalizing details about spiders, lizards, microscopic animals, insects, birds and even a tiny dinosaur that are often missing from fossils found in rock.
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