''Palaeocarpilius'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus of

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

s belonging to the family Carpiliidae. The type species of this genus is ''Palaeocarpilius macrocheilus''. These

epifaunal Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and ''funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively r ...

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

s lived in the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

and the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

, from 48.6 to 28.4 Ma.

Species

The following species are recognized: * ''Palaeocarpilius aquitanicus'' Milne-Edwards 1862 * ''Palaeocarpilius aquilinus'' Collins & Morris 1973 * ''Palaeocarpilius ignotus'' Milne-Edwards 1862 * ''Palaeocarpilius intermedius'' Stubblefield 1927 * ''Palaeocarpilius laevis'' Imaizumi 1939 * ''Palaeocarpilius macrocheilus'' Desmarest 1822 * ''Palaeocarpilius mississippiensis'' Rathbun 1935 * ''Palaeocarpilius rugifer'' Stoliczka 1871 * ''Palaeocarpilius valrovinensis'' De Gregorio 1895

Distribution

Fossils of this genus have been found in the

of Italy and in the

of India, Libya and United States.

References

Carpilioidea Prehistoric Malacostraca Prehistoric crustacean genera Eocene crustaceans Oligocene crustaceans Fossils of Italy Fossils of the United States Fossils of India Eocene genus first appearances Rupelian genus extinctions {{Carpilioidea-stub