On the occurrence of Iphiculus eliasi Hyžný & Gross, 2016 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Leucosioidea) from the Miocene of Catalonia (northeastern Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

Recovery of two specimens of leucosioid crabs in Langhian (middle Miocene) strata at Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès, Catalonia) and a re-examination of another leucosioid from the palaeontological collections of the Vinseum (Vilafranca del Penedès, Catalonia) have led us to consider all of these as conspecific with Iphiculus eliasi Hyžný & Gross, 2016, described first from the middle Miocene of Austria. The sternal and pleonal remains preserved in one of the Catalonian specimens allows to emend the original description of the species. Likewise, a specimen from the middle Miocene of Portugal, previously described as a paguroid, is herein transferred to this species. The occurrence of I. eliasi, either in outcrops along the northeastern and southwestern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, corroborates the close relationship between decapod assemblages which inhabited similar palaeoenvironments in the Central Paratethys, the western Mediterranean and even the nearest Atlantic waters, during the middle Miocene.