Abstract Despite the extensive fossil record of higher crabs ( E ubrachyura) from L ate C retaceous and C enozoic rocks worldwide, their E arly C retaceous occurrences are scarce and fragmentary, obscuring our understanding of their early evolution. Until now, representatives of only two families of eubrachyuran‐like crabs were known from the E arly C retaceous: C omponocancridae and Tepexicarcinidae fam. nov., both monospecific lineages from the Albian (~110–100 Ma) of North and Central America, respectively. The discovery of T elamonocarcinus antiquus sp. nov. (Telamonocarcinidae) from the early A lbian of C olombia, S outh A merica (~110 Ma), increases to three the number of known E arly C retaceous eubrachyuran‐like families. The ages and geographical distributions of the oldest eubrachyuran‐like taxa (i.e. C omponocancridae, T elamonocarcinidae and T epexicarcinidae fam. nov.) suggest that the oldest higher true crabs might have originated in the A mericas; that they were already morphologically diverse by the late E arly C retaceous; and that their most recent common ancestor must be rooted in the E arly C retaceous, or even the L ate J urassic.