Amateur palaeontologist Mamlambo uncovered a 12-million-year-old crab fossil that resembled a facehugger from the "Alien" film franchise.

The fossil enthusiast based in New Zealand filmed as he carefully picked away at the stone that had encrusted the crab remains.

He told Newsflare: "I found a concretion, which is like a natural cement, on the beach which had evenly spaced spikes showing on the outside.

"I decided to investigate it further and removed the rock over the next six hours using an air scribe. An air scribe is like a small chisel moving in and out 10,000 per minute.

"This action causes the rock to flake away from the crab without the air scribe touching the fossil itself.

"The crab that was hiding inside the concretion is a very rare Actinotocarcinus crab, not much is known of these crabs as they are not often found.

"The spikes radiating of the carapace are very strange and aren't the legs which will be tucked away underneath the crab or perhaps even missing."

Mamlambo claimed that the fossil resembled the facehugger creature from the "Alien" films.

I found a concretion, which is like a natural cement, on the beach which had evenly spaced spikes showing on the outside. I decided to investigate it further and removed the rock over the next 6 hours using an air scribe. An air scribe is like a small chisel moving in and out 10 000 per minute. This action causes the rock to flake away from the crab without the air scribe touching the fossil itself.

The crab that was hiding inside the concretion is a very rare Actinotocarcinus crab, not much is known of these crabs as they are not often found.

The spikes radiating of the carapace are very strange and aren't the legs which will be tucked away underneath the crab or perhaps even missing.

At the end of the video I show footage of a very large fossil crab I am working on at the moment as well as some of the previous fossil crabs I have completed.

Music is from bensound.com
Credit: mamlambo fossils
YouTube: youtube.com/mamlambo
Instagram: @mamlambo_nz