Fossil hermit crabs (Paguroidea) have long been known from the fossil record, primarily from claws. Over the last ten years, their millimeter-sized shields (particularly the anterior part) have been increasingly recognized. As a result, researchers have since described over 30 new species from the Late Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous (~160–100 million years ago), particularly from coral reefs. Hermit crab shields were unknown from the Miocene (23–5 million years ago) until this paper. Fraaije and Klompmaker did field work in 2017 in ~10 million old fossil reefs exposed on Cyprus (eastern Mediterranean Sea) and found one shield of a paguroid. This shield represents a new hermit crab species, named Paguristes joecollinsi. This is just the first species from a rich crustacean reef fauna, so stay tuned for more papers in years to come!

Wallaard, J.J.W., R.H.B. Fraaije, J.W.M. Jagt, A.A. Klompmaker, and B.W.M. Van Bakel. 2020. The first record of a paguroid shield (Anomura, Annuntidiogenidae) from the Miocene of Cyprus. Geologija 63: 93–99.