Macropenaeus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of crustaceans}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = {{fossil_range|Barremian|Cenomanian}} | image = Penaeidae - Macropenaeus species.JPG | image_caption =''Macropenaeus incertus'' from Lebanon | display_parents = 2 | parent_authority = Garassino, 1994 | taxon = Macropenaeus incertus | authority = (Roger, 1946) | synonyms = ''Penaeus incertus'' <small>Roger, 1946</small> }}

'''''Macropenaeus''''' is an extinct genus of prawn in the order Decapoda,<ref name="Grave">{{cite journal|journal=Raffles Bulletin of Zoology |year=2009 |volume=Suppl. 21 |pages=1–109 |title=A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans |author1=Sammy De Grave |author2=N. Dean Pentcheff |author3=Shane T. Ahyong |url=http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s21/s21rbz1-109.pdf |format=PDF |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606064728/http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s21/s21rbz1-109.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-06 }}</ref> containing two species: the type species '''''M. incertus''''', known from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Lebanon, and '''''M. sidiaichensis''''' known from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of Tunisia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fossil.net/site/index.cfm?action=item&prod_id=3729& |title=''Macropenaeus'' |publisher=fossil.net |access-date=January 30, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Kamel Boukhalfa |author2=Sergio Sudarsky |author3=Walid Ben Ali |author4=Rodney M. Feldmann |author5=Carrie E. Schweitzer |author6=Mohamed Soussi |year=2017 |title=New Early Cretaceous shrimp (Decapoda) from the Sidi Aïch Formation of the Northern Chotts Range, southern Tunisia: Taxonomy, biostratigraphy, and palaeoenvironmental implications |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=75 |pages=162–172 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2017.04.005 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The tail, segmented carapace, and long legs are clearly defined. The long, slender antennae are nicely displayed. The fossil dendrobranchiate shrimp ''Macropenaeus'' was originally described from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) limestones of Hadjoula, northwest Lebanon. A new species, ''M. sidiaichensis'' sp. nov., was recovered from the Sidi Aïch Formation in the Northern Chotts Range, southern Tunisia. The Barremian occurrence of the genus in Tunisia suggests that ''Macropenaeus'' most likely originated in northern Africa and then migrated to Arabia in the Cenomanian. The association of the fossil shrimp with conchostracans, plant fragments, and fish indicates the interaction of freshwater and marine conditions that characterized the northern African margin as part of widespread coastal complex, paralic environments during the Barremian.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Penaeidae Category:Early Cretaceous crustaceans Category:Early Cretaceous animals of Africa Category:Fossils of Lebanon Category:Fossils of Tunisia Category:Late Cretaceous arthropods of Asia Category:Cretaceous arthropods of Africa Category:Fossil taxa described in 1994 Category:Late Cretaceous crustaceans Category:Barremian genus first appearances Category:Cenomanian genus extinctions Category:Aptian genera Category:Albian genera Category:Cretaceous Lebanon Category:Cretaceous Tunisia