Graptocarcininae n. subfam., an extinct subfamily of Dynomenidae Ortmann, 1892 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Podotremata)
Author
Van, Barry W. M.
Author
Guinot, Danièle
Author
Corral, José Carmelo
Author
Artal, Pedro
text
Zootaxa
2012
3534
40
52
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.208740
219d1ad7-0bc2-4982-b619-951254c1291b
1175-5326
208740
Genus
Graptocarcinus
Roemer, 1887
Type
species.
Graptocarcinus texanus
Roemer, 1887
(=
Cyphonotus integrimarginatus
Wright & Wright, 1950
), by monotypy.
Included species.
G. bellonii
Collins & Dieni, 1995
,
G. maastrichtensis
Fraaye, 1996
,
G. m u i r i
Stenzel, 1944
,
G. texanus
Roemer, 1887
,
G. urbasaensis
n. sp.
.
Material examined.
Graptocarcinus urbasaensis
n. sp.
:
type
series, see below.
G. texanus
Roemer, 1887
: MAB k.3208–3213 (ex collection K. Durney, Austin, Texas).
Graptocarcinus
sp. (as
G. texanus
): MNHN-R.03275, cast of large carapace, original in Musée de Cherbourg, Upper Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, “craie à
Baculites
”, Fresnelles (Manche),
France
. MNHN-A.32427 (coll. Milne-Edwards), small, mostly decorticated carapace, Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian, Rouen (Ste-Catherine), Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie,
France
.
Remarks.
Graptocarcinus
is traditionally assigned to
Dynomenidae
(
Rathbun 1935
: 41;
Stenzel 1944
: 550;
Remy 1955
: 162;
Collins & Dieni 1995
: 70;
McLay 1999
: 434;
De
Angeli & Garassino 2007
: 24;
De
Grave
et al
. 2009
: 27;
Jagt
et al.
2010
: table 2; Schweitzer
et al
. 2010: 66; Breton & Collins 2011: 142;
Karasawa
et al
. 2011
: 542).
The Italian species
Graptocarcinus bellonii
is known from the Cenomanian
type
series (
Collins & Dieni 1995: figs. 2.1, 2.2
), as well as from a better preserved Maastrichtian specimen (
De
Angeli & Garassino 2007
: fig. 1e). Differences in ornamentation between the
type
series and the additional specimen were ascribed to possible ontogenetic differences, the size difference being considerable (
De
Angeli & Garassino 2007
: 24).
Jagt
et al
. (2010
: 186) assumed that the claw figured by
Collins & Dieni (1995: figs. 2.3, 2.5, 2.6)
as “
Pagurinae
genus indet.” is actually the claw of
G. b e l l o n i
.
Graptocarcinus maastrichtensis
was described from a single, moderately preserved carapace from the
type
Maastrichtian of
the Netherlands
. It shows large orbits, a broadly triangular front, and a rounded pentagonal carapace outline (
Fraaye 1996: fig. 1
). It may represent a juvenile specimen of the poorly known
Stephanometopon granulatum
Bosquet, 1854
, but more material is needed to verify this.
Graptocarcinus texanus
was described by
Roemer (1887)
from four well preserved carapaces from the “upper Turonian” from Austin, Texas. The
type
series could not be located in Bonn (despite of a visit of first author together with J.W.M Jagt, NHMM, and R.H.B. Fraaije, MAB, in
October 2011
) and most probably is deposited in Wroclaw (formerly Breslau),
Poland
.
Rathbun (1935: 41; pl. 10, figs. 13–15)
figured an additional well preserved carapace, and
Stenzel (1944: 551)
translated and emended the original description by reporting the age of the
type
series as “Buda limestone of Comanche series, Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian)”. The species is reported from
England
(
Wright & Collins 1972
),
France
(
Remy 1955
), and
Spain
(
Van Straelen 1940
), but well preserved material should be examined to verify if this material belongs to
G. texanu
s.
Fraaye (1996: 463)
provided additional information.
The other American species,
Graptocarcinus muiri
, was described from a single, isolated carapace from the Albian (middle Cretaceous) Taninul limestone of San Luis Potosí,
Mexico
(
Stenzel 1944
).
Vega & Feldmann (1992)
stated this to be of Aptian age. It was synonymised with
G. texanus
by
Wright & Collins (1972: 54)
but subsequently
Bishop (1986)
and
Fraaye (1996)
treated them as separate species.
Guinot & Breton (2006: 610)
commented that “the lower Cenomanian
Necrocarcinus avicularis
Fritsch
in
Fritsch & Kafka, 1887
(
Fritsch & Kafka 1887: 47
pro parte
, pl. 10, fig. 12 only
) might be included in
Graptocarcinus
Roemer, 1887
”. This species is based on claws (
Fritsch & Kafka 1887
: 47;
Jagt
et al.
2010
: 185; table I) but two fragments of carapaces, clearly belonging to different genera, were figured (
Fritsch & Kafka 1887: pl. 10, figs. 12, 13
). One of these fragments is described as (
Cancer
?)
modestus
(
Fritsch & Kafka 1887: 49, pl. 10, fig. 12
) which
Wright & Collins (1972: 54)
questionably synonymised with
Graptocarcinus texanus
. Schweitzer
et al.
(2010: 80, 101) included
N
.
avicularis
in
Necrocarcinus
, while (
C.
?)
modestus
was erroneously listed under
Cancer
.
Jagt
et al.
(2010
: 185) assigned the chelae to the “form genus”
Roemerus
Bishop, 1983
, which was considered to be a dynomenid. Both the claws (
Fritsch & Kafka 1887: pl. 10, figs. 2, 10, 11
) and the carapace fragment in figure 10, could belong to
Graptocarcinus
. The material, however, is fragmentary and disassociated, and no final conclusion can be drawn at present.
Claws of
Graptocarcinus
spp. may be differentiated from other fossil dynomenid claws by the presence of a distinct articulating bulge.
Jagt
et al.
(2010
: 179) stated that claw forms with oval depressions in both fingers for setae can be linked to “
Palaeodromites
” [to
Distefania
] while forms lacking such depressions belong to
Graptocarcinus
or are closely allied dynomenids. The material described below confirms this view.