''Mecochirus'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

-like

decapod Decapod may refer to: Biology * Decapoda, an order of crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs * Decapodiformes, ten-limbed cephalopods with eight arms and two tentacles Trains * 2-10-0, a steam locomotive wheel arrangement known as "Decapod" in th ...

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

s, containing 17 species. The

Maxberg Specimen ''Archaeopteryx'' fossils from the quarries of Solnhofen limestone represent the most famous and well-known fossils from this area. They are highly significant to paleontology and avian evolution in that they document the fossil record's old ...

of ''

Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird''), is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaīos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...

'' was initially assigned to the type species, '' Mechocirus longimanatus'' before it was realised that it belonged to ''Archaeopteryx lithographica''.

Paleoecology

Mecochirus rapax ''Mecochirus'' is an extinct genus of lobster-like Decapoda, decapod crustaceans, containing 17 species. The Specimens of Archaeopteryx#Maxberg Specimen, Maxberg Specimen of ''Archaeopteryx'' was initially assigned to the type species, ''Mechocir ...

'' may have lived inside or produced ''

Thalassinoides ''Thalassinoides'' is an ichnogenus of trace fossil used to refer to "dichotomously or T-branched boxworks, mazes and shafts, unlined and unornamented". Facies of ''Thalassinoides'' increased suddenly in abundance at the beginning of the Mesoz ...

'' burrows.

References

Glypheidea Jurassic crustaceans Prehistoric animals of Europe {{decapod-stub