Homarus morrisi
Homarus morrisi
Summary
Homarus morrisi was a clawed lobster related to the broader group that includes living Homarus lobsters. It would have walked over the seabed using large front claws to seize food, defend itself and manipulate prey. Like modern clawed lobsters it was probably an opportunistic predator and scavenger.
A robust lobster like this would have been one of the larger mobile crustaceans in the London Clay ecosystem. It shared the sea floor with other clawed lobsters, spiny lobsters and crabs, showing that several different large crustacean feeding strategies coexisted in the same warm Eocene sea.
Quick Identification
Look for: a robust clawed-lobster carapace and associated chelae matching Quayle’s Homarus morrisi morphology; compare the carapace groove pattern and claw construction directly with London Clay Hoploparia.
Diagnostic Features
- Nephropid body plan with a robust elongate carapace.
- First pereiopods form enlarged true chelae.
- Carapace bears a consistent set of cervical and branchial grooves.
- Overall carapace and chela proportions differ from the London Clay Hoploparia species.
- Identification should use the full revised character combination rather than claw size alone.
Fossil Details
Similar Species
Recorded Fossil Sites
London Clay Formation
References
- W. J. Quayle. (1987). English Eocene Crustacea (lobsters and stomatopod). Palaeontology, 30(3), 581–612 View reference