Discovery of Bathynomus tuebingoborikensis

Scientists from the University of Tübingen discovered a new species of giant isopod named Bathynomus tuebingoborikensis, measuring 32.2 centimeters in length. The dried specimen was originally acquired in Puerto Rico in the 1980s by paleontologist Dolf Seilacher and rediscovered in storage by researcher Benedikt Kästle and curator Ingmar Werneburg. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that Bathynomus originated in the Gulf of Mexico during the Miocene epoch over 15 million years ago when the Isthmus of Panama was open. The marine creatures spread westward through an open seaway into the Pacific and Indian Oceans, eventually diversifying into giant and supergiant species. As Earth cooled during the Miocene-Pliocene boundary 5.333 million years ago, larger colossogiants exceeding 25.2 centimeters emerged in the Indo-Pacific. These creatures subsequently migrated from Australia via Antarctica to South and Central America, establishing a close evolutionary relationship with species found off the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. This discovery highlights the critical importance of natural history collections as global archives for biodiversity research. The findings, published in Scientific Reports on October 8, 2026, provide essential clues into the evolutionary history and global migration patterns of deep-sea crustaceans.