Evolution of reef-associated decapod crustaceans through time, with particular reference to the Maastrichtian type area

The result of some twenty years of intensive collecting from strata in the Maastrichtian type area is a collection of more than 1,200 generally small-sized anomuran and brachyuran remains. The stratigraphical ranges of the thirty-one species known to date from the Maastricht Formation (Late Maastrichtian) are shown and five successive decapod assemblages are discussed. For the first time, decapod crustacean remains now turn out to be useful biostratigraphic tools on a local to regional scale.