Morphological study of Linhaiella (Spinicaudata) from the Upper Cretaceous in Zhejiang, south-east China

Non-marine Cretaceous red beds are widely distributed in south-east China. Clam shrimps are one of the most useful fossil groups for biostratigraphic correlation of these strata. The fossil clam shrimp genus Linhaiella Chen and Shen, 1982 was originally described from a sequence of the Upper Cretaceous red beds, which belongs to the Fangyan Formation in the Xianju Basin of Zhejiang Province, south-east China. Morphological study of Linhaiella from Zhejiang under an SEM has revealed new taxonomic features not previously recognized: (1) growth bands near umbo ornamented by slender radial lirae that are relatively widely spaced with intercalated fine reticulations; (2) growth bands in the middle to ventral parts of the carapace ornamented with no reticulation, but a row of pits along the lower margin of each growth band.