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For the first time, a paguroid shield is recorded from upper Miocene reefal strata (Koronia Member, Pakhna Formation) that crop out along the northern margin of the Troodos Massif, north of the village of Mitsero, Cyprus. Described here as Paguristes joecollinsi sp. nov., it constitutes the first paguroid shield known from Miocene deposits. The paucity of Cenozoic paguroid shields can probably be linked to a collecting bias in view of their relatively small size; in addition, suitable gastropod shells and internal moulds of such should be screened for ‘hidden’ hermit crabs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During recent decades, decapod crustacean faunas from middle Danian (lower Paleocene) strata at Faxe (Sjælland, Denmark) have been studied in detail. However, paguroid anomurans have not yet been described formally. Two new species of hermit crab have lately been recognised in the collections of the Geomuseum Faxe. Percentages of total paguroid assemblages and feeding behaviour derived from the morphology of its chelae indicate that one of these, Dardanus faxensis sp. nov., as a generalist, was better adapted to inhabit the deep-water reefal environment of the Faxe carbonates than the more specialised, suspension-feeding Paguristes frigoscopulus sp. nov. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subsequent to a preliminary report on a handful of paguroid remains from the Tithonian (uppermost Jurassic) to lower Berriasian (Lower Cretaceous) Štramberk Limestone in Moravia (eastern Czech Republic), published in 2013, several field campaigns were organised by our research team during the summers of 2012-2015 and 2018. These resulted in the recovery of additional paguroid shields (or, anterior carapaces) that form the basis of the present study. The currently available material documents a diverse paguroid fauna. In fact, it ranks amongst the most diverse fossil paguroid assemblages known, following faunas from the upper Kimmeridgian of Nusplingen (southern Germany) and the Tithonian of Ernstbrunn (northeast Austria). New representatives of five families and five genera are described, named and illustrated, as follows: Annuntidiogenes sagittula sp. nov. (Diogenidae), Protopagurus cerebellum sp. nov. and Protopagurus duopupae sp. nov. (Paguridae), Mesoparapylocheles janetjacksonae sp. nov. (Parapylochelidae), Masticacheles septemgradu sp. nov. (Pilgrimchelidae) and Ammopylocheles romankijoki sp. nov. (Pylochelidae). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]