Mutotylaspis

Mutotylaspis is an extinct monotypic genus of probeebeid hermit crabs that lived in Russia's Vladimir Oblast^[1] during the Albian stage of the Lower Cretaceous Epoch^[1], and the only extinct genus in the Probeebeidae family.^[2][1] Its type and only species is Mutotylaspis tripudium.

Mutotylaspis Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous (Albian), ~110 Ma[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Anomura
Family:	Probeebeidae
Genus:	†Mutotylaspis Fraaije, Mychko, Barsukov & Jagt, 2023[2]
Species:	†M. tripudium
Binomial name
†Mutotylaspis tripudium Fraaije, Mychko, Barsukov & Jagt, 2023

Etymology

The genus name, Mutotylaspis, is a combination of MUTO (giant monsters, or kaiju, that appear as primary antagonists^[3] in the 2014 movie Godzilla) and the genus Tylaspis (another probeebeid that is thought to be the closest living relative of Mutotylaspis).^[1]

The name of the type species, tripudium, is Latin for “dancing”, a reference to the pose the type specimen (SVSR, ГМ-436) was found in.^[1]