This room is perhaps the most important, because it exposes a part of the rich fossil crustaceans collection of the Museum which attracts the interest of amateur and professional paleontologists around the world. On display are numerous holotypes, unique specimens on which new genera and species have been described.
The exhibit has more than one hundred examples of crustaceans, especially decapod crustaceans (e.g. crabs, shrimps, lobsters) often perfectly preserved, collected and skillfully prepared by the Museum collaborators. In the hall you can see fossils of shrimps, lobsters, hermit crabs, and stomatopods (mantis shrimps), but mostly crabs. The specimens are preserved three-dimensionally and are of very different shapes and sizes. They were adapted to the environments in which they lived: coral reefs, sandy or rocky substrate.
A sculpture reproduces the stratigraphy of Chiampo Valley with highlighted the crabs-bearing horizons.
In the last three decades, thanks to the recovery in the area of new material by the paleontologists and collaborators of the Museum, the collection has greatly increased and numerous scientific publications have been produced.
New fossil localities have been identified, and specifically the quarries: “Main” from Arzignano; “Lovara” from Chiampo; “Boschetto” from Nogarole Vicentino; “Grola” from Cornedo Vicentino and “Rossi” from Monte di Malo.
Thanks to the excellent work of our experts, the knowledge on Eocene and Oligocene decapod crustaceans have greatly increased. This intense activity has culminated in 2000 with the organization of the “1st Workshop on Mesozoic and Tertiary Decapod Crustaceans” under the auspices of our “G. Zannato ” Museum and the Museum of Natural History in Milan, and in collaboration with the” Friends of the Museum Zannato” association. This conference gave impetus to many exchanges of scientific information and collaboration among experts from all over the world, giving to the Veneto crustacean fossil faunas an international importance.