A rare species of fossil crab named in honor of one of our volunteers
Paleontologists have named a new species of 85-million-year-old fossil crab, found in the Houthalen coal mine, after volunteer Patrick De Saegher. He has been digitizing historical documents for the Institute for twelve years, including those about the Iguanodons of Bernissart. "I am immortalized, albeit as a crab," he laughs.
The slag heaps and shaft towers in Limburg are still silent witnesses to the coal that was mined there until the 1990s. During the excavation of the Houthalen mine shafts in the 1920s and 1930s, many fossils were found, including 85-million-year-old lobster claws and a single crab shell. This crab shell turns out to be from a previously unknown species, now named Binkhorstia desaegheri.
The species name honors Patrick De Saegher, a retired BASF lab technician and a volunteer at the Institute of Natural Sciences for twelve years. He digitizes old archives—mainly scientific studies—making them available to researchers today. He also scanned and organized the entire archive on the Bernissart Iguanodons, including all correspondence, drawings, and photos.
Exceptional crab
His first project was an inventory of fossils from the Campine coal mines. During this work, paleontologist Stijn Goolaerts noticed the unique crab shell. Only a few specimens of this type of crab were known from the Belgian-Dutch border near Maastricht, but this crab is 20 million years older. "The chance of finding another specimen like this is almost nil," says Goolaerts. "The find allows us to get a better view of the evolution of this crab family. They went extinct due to the meteorite impact at the end of the Cretaceous period." Five international colleagues contributed to the study, published in the Netherlands Journal of Geosciences.
Patrick is pleased with the tribute. "Both my brother and I have daughters. The family name will not be continued, except through this crab." Patrick has always been passionate about fossils. "When I was fourteen, in 1966, they were building the ring road around Antwerp. I read in the newspaper that someone had dug up a complete whale spine in a construction pit. So, I attached a large box to my bike and went digging too. I found a whale jaw and shark teeth, and I was hooked."
