A new species of prehistoric shrimp has been discovered by palaeontologists working at a fossil forest in Wrexham.

The 300-million-year-old crustacean was just 5cm long (2in) and was found at a heritage site in Brymbo.

Its Latin name means "rump" or "bum-headed" because its front and back end are hard to identify.

The species is different from existing specimens and so has been named pygocephalus brymboensis after the place where it was found.

Stori Brymbo is a newly opened heritage attraction on the site of a former steelworks which closed in 1990.

Visitors are taken on a journey through time from the industrial revolution when iron and steel were first produced here to the carboniferous period when coal beds first began to be formed.

A well-preserved section of forest which was buried under mud and rock 300 million years ago is now being painstakingly uncovered at the attraction.

Fossil co-ordinator and palaeontologist Dr Tim Astrop noticed that the shrimp fossils they found looked a little different to those identified elsewhere.

He said: "The crustaceans themselves are quite common throughout the coal measures and they've been known for nearly 300 years.

"However, they tend to just get discovered and put into one big collection and named the same thing."

But after comparing numerous specimens, he said: "I noticed that our guy is particularly spiky.

"He has a very spiky tail, a very spiky head, he's also a little bit larger than those that are previously known."

The fossil forest is unusual because it is protected from the elements by a roof so volunteers can excavate the site year-round and visitors can watch the work happening.

Among the students who have gained new skills at the site are Wrexham University forensic science students who are bringing 21st Century crime-solving skills to prehistoric remains.

Lecturer Amy Rattenbury said: "Forensic archaeology students need to know how to search, recover, map, excavate, document sites and a lot of the practices that they're doing here mirror that, down to the equipment that's being used and some of the cataloguing skills."

She added that getting students out to a real site, rather than doing simulation-based exercises, was "really helpful".

A total of 17 bum-headed Brymbo shrimps have been found so far, making the species an unofficial mascot represented in cartoons all over the site.

Astrop said: "It's just become a bit of a meme, really. So people like to scribble their iterations of the shrimp around the place."

Rattenbury said there was always excitement when a new example was exposed.

She said: "Seeing the buzz that everybody has when it's something so interesting, unique and really well preserved - it's exciting."

It is hoped the shrimp will be the first of many unique discoveries at the fossil forest.