Eocarcinus praecursor Withers, 1932 (Malacostraca, Decapoda, Meiura) is a stem group brachyuran

Beginning with the description by Withers in 1932, Eocarcinus praecursor from the Jurassic has long been considered the oldest representative of the Brachyura. In 2010 Feldmann and Schweitzer re-investigated the specimens of E. praecursor and expressed doubts about the brachyuran nature of this species. Among other characters, the suspected existence of small chelae in the 2nd or 3rd pereopods led them to the conclusion that E. praecursor must be removed from the Brachyura and rather be seen as a representative of the Anomala. However, Anomala also do not possess chelae on the 2nd and 3rd pereopods. This contradiction and other aspects initiated a new investigation of E. praecursor. It can be shown that neither the 2nd nor the 3rd pereopods of E. praecursor are chelate. Furthermore, there are no other derived characters shared with anomalans. By contrast, there are a number of apomorphies shared with Brachyura such as the shape and articulation of the large chelae and the attachment points of the last two pereopods. However, not all apomorphies of the crown group are present yet. Thus, E. praecursor is a stem group representative, which allows statements about individual steps in the evolution of the set of characters of the crown group Brachyura.