Anthracocaris is an extinct genus of crustaceans which lived during the Early Carboniferous period in Scotland.
The genus contains a single species, A. scotica, which was first named as a species of Palaeocaris in 1882, but later recognized to belong in a separate genus.
Fossil remains of Anthracocaris were first studied by British geologist Ben Peach, who analyzed around 30 specimens of this animal which were collected by A. Macconochie in Eskdale, Scotland.
[1] In 1908, Peach published a monograph on the Carboniferous crustaceans of Scotland in which he once again described this species, noting that there exist many additional specimens of it aside from those he studied for its initial publication, and the spelling of its specific name was changed to scotica.
[2] This species was first realized to belong in a separate genus in 1933, when Scottish Zoologist William Thomas Calman reexamined nine fossils of this crustacean (seven of which were figured by Peach in the original description) and found that it did not belong in the same genus or even the same order as the type species of Palaeocaris.