Paleozoic cumaceans (Crustacea, Malacostraca, Peracarida) from North America

Thiee new species of malacostracans are described from North America in the Upper Mississippian Into Formation of Arkansas, and the Pennsylvanian Eudora Shale of southeastern Kansas. These appear to be the oldest fossils attributed to the Cumacea and are only the third collection of fossil cumaceans anywhere to be described. Previously depicted forms occur in the Permian and Jurassic of Europe. We herein double the number of described fossil cumacean species and suggest some necessary adjustments to the higher taxonomy of the group to accommodate apomorphic features of the fossil and Recent forms.