Three-dimensionally preserved decapod larval compound eyes from the Cretaceous Santana Formation of Brazil

Compound eyes are common in decapod crustaceans. Decapods have an abundant post-Palaeozoic fossil record, but hitherto morphological information about their eyes has been mainly restricted to Recent material. Here we report the discovery of compound eyes recovered from acetic acid residues of two fish-bearing nodules from the Cretaceous Santana Formation of Brazil; they include what are identified as decapod larval compound eyes. The fossil eyes are comparable to phyllosoma larval eyes because of the following characters: the hemispherical visual surface on a stalked eye; the relatively small-size of the visual surface of the eye; rounded facets are arranged in square arrays in the anterior region; the fact that the neighboring ommatidia are bounded by ridges and/ or grooves; and the more convex inner surface of the cornea lens. This report represents the first description of a three-dimensionally preserved fossil decapod eye. We conclude that the eyes probably represent palinuroid phyllosoma larval eyes and were an adaptation to a planktonic lifestyle.