Copepod crustaceans are extremely abundant but, because of their small size and fragility,they fossilize poorly. Their fossil record consists of one Cretaceous (c. 115 Ma) parasite anda few Miocene (c. 14 Ma) fossils. In this paper, we describe abundant crustacean fragments,including copepods, from a single bitumen clast in a glacial diamictite of late Carboniferousage (c. 303 Ma) from eastern Oman. Geochemistry identifi es the source of the bitumen asan oilfi eld some 100 – 300 km to the southwest, which is consistent with an ice fl ow directionfrom glacial striae. The bitumen likely originated as an oil seep into a subglacial lake. This fi ndextends the fossil record of copepods by some 188 Ma, and of free-living forms by 289 Ma. Thecopepods include evidence of the extant family Canthocamptidae, believed to have colonizedfresh water in Pangaea during Carboniferous times. |
