Considered a pseudo-fossil, Mud Lobster fossils are of the molt of the lobster's exoskeleton rather than of the body of the animal. These exoskeletons fossilize in mangrove swamps of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and are slowly replaced with calcium carbonate, strontium, and iron. The Thalassina fossil record extends as far back as the Miocene epoch (23.03-5.33 million years ago).

This crustacean has a tail resembling a scorpion, which is why Thalassina anomala is known as the Scorpion Lobster.