No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Mangrove-dwelling crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura: Necrocarcinidae) associated with dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Egypt
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2016
Abstract
Brachyuran decapods (crabs) are rarely preserved in coastal environments and have not been documented in close association with dinosaur fossils. A crab referable to the Necrocarcinidae Förster, 1968, is here described from the Cenomanian Bahariya Formation, Bahariya Oasis, Egypt. The occurrence of a crab in a mangrove setting in association with terrestrial vertebrates is extremely unusual in the fossil record. Review of decapod occurrences from the region has resulted in placement of Portunus sp. of Roger (1946) within the Raninidae de Haan, 1839, and Lophoraninella cretacea (Dames, 1886) into the Galatheoidea Samouelle, 1819. The crabs of the Bahariya Formation were probably scavengers, feeding on vegetation and other organic material and were possibly a food source for fish and other vertebrates and invertebrates in the environment.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Paleontological Society
References
Alcock, A.
1899. The Brachyura Primigenia or Dromiacea: materials for a Carcinological fauna of India, No. 5. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 68(II: 3): 123–169.Google Scholar
Alvin, K. L.
1971.
Weichselia reticulata (Stokes et Webb) Fontaine from the Wealden of Belgium. Memoires de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, 166:33 p.Google Scholar
Anderson, J. L., and Feldmann, R. M.
1995.
Lobocarcinus lumacopius (Decapoda: Cancridae), a new species of cancrid crab from the Eocene of Fayum, Egypt. Journal of Paleontology, 69:922–932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, J., and Beadnell, H. J. L.
1903. Baharia oasis: its topography and geology. National Printing Department, Cairo, 84 pp.Google Scholar
Beever, J. W. I., Simberloff, D., and King, L. L.
1979. Herbivory and predation by the mangrove tree crab. Oecologia, 43:317–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carter, J.
1872. On Orithopsis Bonneyi, a new fossil crustacean. Geological Magazine, 9:529–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, J. S. H.
1997. Fossil Homolidae (Crustacea; Decapoda). Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum, 24:51–71.Google Scholar
Collins, J. S. H., and Morris, S. F.
1973. A new crab from the Middle Eocene of Libya. Palaeontology, 16:283–292.Google Scholar
Collins, J. S. H., Moody, R. T. J., and Sandman, R. I.
1999. A new crab and cirripede (Crustacea, Decapoda: Cirrepedia) from the Upper Ypresian of central Tunisia. Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Musem, 26:121–127.Google Scholar
Colosi, G.
1923. Una specie fossile de Gerionide (Decapodi brachiuri). Bolettino della Societá dei Naturalisti in Napoli, 35 (series 2, Volume 15), 37:248–255.Google Scholar
Dames, W. B.
1886. Ueber einige Crustaceen aus den Kreideablagerungen des Libanon. Zeitschrift der deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft, 38:551–575, pls. 13–15.Google Scholar
Dominik, W.
1985. Stratigraphie und Sedimentologie (Geochemie, Schwermineralanalyse) der Oberkreide von Bahariya und ihre Korrelation zum Dakhla-BEcken (Western Desert, Ägypten). Berliner geowissenschafltiche Abhundlungen Reihe A: 173.Google Scholar
Ellison, A. M., and Farnsworth, E. J.
2001. Mangrove Communites, p. 423–442. In
Bertness, M. D., Gaines, S. D., and Hay, M. E. (eds.), Marine Community Ecology. Sinnauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Farnsworth, E. J., and Ellison, A. M.
1991. Patterns of herbivory in Belizean mangrove swamps. Biotropica, 23:555–567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldmann, R. M., and Wilson, M. T.
1988. Eocene decapod crustaceans from Antarctica, p. 465–488. In
Feldmann, R. M. and Woodburne, M. O. (eds.), Geology and Paleontology of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Geological Society of America, Memoir
169.Google Scholar
Förster, R.
1968.
Paranecrocarcinus libanoticus n. sp. (Decapoda) und die Entwicklung der Calappidae in der Kreide. Mitt. Bayer. Staatssammlung Paläontologische historische Geologie, 8:167–195.Google Scholar
Gallagher, W. B.
1993. The Cretaceous/Tertiary mass extinction event in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Mosasaur, 5:75–154.Google Scholar
Gallagher, W. B., Parris, D. C., and Spamer, E. E.
1986. Paleontology, biostratigraphy, and depositional environments of the Cretaceous-Tertiary transition in the New Jersey Coastal Plain. The Mosasaur, 3:1–35.Google Scholar
Glaessner, M. F.
1945. Cretaceous Crustacea from Mount Lebanon, Syria. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 12, series
11:694–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaessner, M. F.
1969. Decapoda, p. R400–R566. In
Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. R, Arthropoda 4, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Guinot, D.
1977. Propositions pour une nouvelle classification des Crustacés Décapodes Brachyoures. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences de Paris, Serie D, 285:1049–1052.Google Scholar
Guinot, D.
1995. Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura: révision des Homolodromiidae Alcock, 1900. In
Crosnier, A. (ed.), Résultats des Campagnes Musorstom, Volume 13. Mémoires de Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 163:155–182.Google Scholar
Guinot, D., and de Forges, B. Richer
1995. Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura: révision des Homolidae de Haan, 1839. In
Crosnier, A. (ed.), Résultats des Campagnes Musorstom, Volume 13. Mémoires de Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 163:283–517.Google Scholar
de Haan, W.
1833–1850. Crustacea. In
P. F. de Siebold, Fauna Japonica sive descriptio animalium, quae in itinere per Japoniam, jussu et auspiciis superiorum, qui summum in India Batava Imperium tenent, suscepto, annis 1823–1830 collegit, notis, observationibus et adumbrationibus, illustravit, ix–xvi, 1–xxxi, vii–xvii, 243 p., pl. A–Q, 1–55, circ. 2, A, Arnz, Lugdunum Batavorum.Google Scholar
Heckert, A. B., Lucas, S. G., and Rinehart, L. F.
1999. From decapods to dinosaurs: a diverse new fauna from a bonebed in the Upper Triassic (Norian) Petrified Forest Formation. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 19(3 supplement):50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hof, C. H. J.
1998. Late Cretaceous Stomatopods (Crustacea: Malacostraca) from Israel and Jordan. Contributions to Zoology, 67:257–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogarth, P. J.
1999. The Biology of Mangroves. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 228 p.Google Scholar
Holthuis, L. B., and Manning, R. B.
1990. Crabs of the Subfamily Dorippinae MacLeay, 1838, from the Indo-West Pacific region (Crustacea: Decapoda: Dorippidae). Researches on Crustacea, Special Number 3, the Carcinological Society of Japan, 151 p.Google Scholar
Idris, M. B.
1989. Fossil crabs of Sabah. Warta Geologi (Newsletter of the Geological Society of Malaysia), 15(5):207–213.Google Scholar
Jones, D. A.
1984. Crabs of the mangal ecosystems, p. 89–110. In
Por, F. D. and Dor, I. (eds.), Hydrobiology of the Mangal. D. W. Junk, the Hague.Google Scholar
Karasawa, H.
1992. The crab Ozius collinsi sp. nov. (Xanthoidea: Decapoda: Crustacea) from the Miocene Katsuta Group, southwest Japan. Tertiary Research, 14:19–24.Google Scholar
Karasawa, H.
1993. Cenozoic decapod Crustacea from southwest Japan. Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum, 20:1–92, 24 pls.Google Scholar
Karasawa, H., and Inoue, K.
1992. Decapod crustaceans from the Miocene Kukinaga Group, Tanegashima Island, Kyushu, Japan. Tertiary Research, 14:73–96.Google Scholar
Keenan, C. P., Davie, J. F., and Mann, D. L.
1998. A revision of the genus Scylla de Haan, 1833 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Portunidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 46:217–245.Google Scholar
Kesling, R. V.
1958. Fossil crabs from Guam. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, XIV(14),207–263.Google Scholar
Kuehne, D.
1993. Further examination of the Woodbury and English-town Formations in Camden County and adjacent areas, New Jersey. The Mosasaur, 5:63–72.Google Scholar
Lacovara, K. J., Smith, J. R., Smith, J. B., Lamanna, M. C., and Dodson, P.
2000. Paralic environments of the Cretaceous dinosaurs of Egypt: a discussion of uniformitarian analogs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20:53.Google Scholar
Larghi, C., and Garassino, A.
2000. The brachyurans of the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Lebanon, p. 53–54. In
Pitton, G. (ed.), Extended Abstracts, 1st Workshop on Mesozoic and Cenozoic Decapod Crustaceans, Studi e Ricerche, Museo Civico “G. Zannato,”
Montecchio Maggiore, Italy.Google Scholar
Latreille, P. A.
1802–1803. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, des crustacés et des insectes, Volume 3. F. Dufart, Paris, France.Google Scholar
Latreille, P. A.
1817. Les crustacés, les arachnides, et les insectes, p. xxix + 1–653. In
Cuvier, G. (ed.), Le règne animal distribué d'après son organisation, pour servir de base à l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction à l'anatomie comparée. Edition 1, Volume. 3. Paris, Déterville.Google Scholar
Lejal-Nicol, A.
1990. Fossil flora, p. 615–626. In
Said, R. (ed.), The Geology of Egypt. Published for the Egyptian General Petroluem Corporation Conoco Hurghada Inc. and Repsol Exploracion S. A. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Brookfield, Vermont.Google Scholar
Lejal-Nicol, A., and Dominik, W.
1990. Sur la Paleoflore a Weishseliaceae et a Angiospermes du Cenomanien de la region de Bahariya (Egypte du Sud-Ouest). Berliner Geowissenschftliche Abhandlunger, 120:957–922.Google Scholar
Lórenthey, I.
1909. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der eozänen Dekapodenfauna Ágyptens. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Berichte aus Ungarn (Budapest)
106–152, pls. 1–2.Google Scholar
MacLeay, W. S.
1838. On the brachyurous Decapod Crustacea brought from the Cape by Dr. Smith, p. 53–71, pls. 2. In
Smith, A. (ed.), Illustrations of the Annulosa of South Africa; Being a Portion of the Objects of Natural History Chiefly Collected During an Expedition into the Interior of South Africa, Under the Direction of Dr. Andrew Smith, in the Years 1834, 1835, and 1836; Fitted out by “The Cape of Good Hope Association for Exploring Central Africa.”
Smith Elder, and Co., London.Google Scholar
Edwards, H. Milne
1837. Histoire naturelle des Crustacés, comprenant l'anatomie, la physiologie, et la classification de ces animaux. Volume 2, 532 p; atlas, 32 p., pls. 1–42.Google Scholar
Ng, P. K. L.
1987. The master camoufleurs: the upside down world of the leaf porter crab. Nature Malaysiana, 12(2): 14–15.Google Scholar
Ng, P. K. L., and Tan, L. W. H.
1986. The leaf-carrying behaviour of Neodorippe (Neodorippe) callida Fabricius, 1798, with a note on carrying behaviour of dorippid crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Journal of the Singapore National Academy of Science, 15:45–47.Google Scholar
Nötling, F.
1885. Über Crustaceen aus dem Tertiär Aegyptens. Sitzungsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 21:487–500.Google Scholar
Rafinesque, C. S.
1815. Analyse de la nature, ou tableau de l'Universe et des corps organisée. Palermo, Italy.Google Scholar
Rathbun, M. J.
1925. The spider crabs of America. United States National Museum Bulletin
129, 613 p.Google Scholar
Remy, J.-M., and Avnimelech, M.
1955.
Eryon yehoachi nov. sp. et Cenomanocarcinus cf. vanstraeleni Stenzel Crustacés Décapodes du Crétacé Supérieur de l'état d'Israel. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, series 6, 5:311–314, pl. 19a.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A. I., Alongi, D. M., and Boto, K. G.
1992. Food chains and carbon fluxes, p. 293–326. In
Robertson, A. I. and Alongi, D. M. (eds.), Tropical Mangrove Ecosystems. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D. C.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roger, J.
1946. Les Invertébrés des Couches a Poissons du Crétacé Supérieur du Liban. Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France (Nouvelle Série), Mémoire 51, 23(1–2):1–90.Google Scholar
Sakai, T.
1976. Crabs of Japan and the Adjacent Seas. Kodansha, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 773 p., 251 pls.Google Scholar
Samouelle, G.
1819. The Entomologist's Useful Compendium, or An Introduction to the Knowledge of British Insects. London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweitzer, C. E.
2001a. Additions to the Tertiary decapod fauna of the Pacific Northwest of North America. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 21:521–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweitzer, C. E.
2001b. Paleobiogeography of Cretaceous and Tertiary decapod crustaceans of the North Pacific Ocean. Journal of Paleontology, 75:808–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweitzer, C. E., and Feldmann, R. M.
2000. New species of calappid crabs from western North America and reconsideration of the Calappidae sensu lato
. Journal of Paleontology, 74:230–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweitzer, C. E., and Feldmann, R. M.
2001. New Cretaceous and Tertiary decapod crustaceans from western North America. Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum, 28:173–210.Google Scholar
Schweitzer, C. E., Feldmann, R. M., Gonzales-Barba, G., and Vega, F. J.
2002. New crabs from the Eocene and Oligocene of Baja California Sur, México, and an assessment of the evolutionary and paleobiogeographic implications of Méxican fossil crabs. Journal of Paleontology Memoir Series: Memoir 59.Google Scholar
Seward, A. C.
1894. Catalogue of the Mesozoic plants in the Department of Geology, British Museum (Natural History). The Wealden Flora, Pt. I, Thallophyta, Pteridophyta. Longmans and Company and the British Museum (Natural History), London, 173 p., pls. I–XI.Google Scholar
Smith, J. B., Lamanna, M. C., Lacovara, K. J., Dodson, P., Smith, J. R., Poole, J. C., Giegengack, R., and Attia, Y.
2001. A giant sauropod dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous mangrove deposit in Egypt. Science, 292:1704–1706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, T. J. I., Boto, K. G., Frusher, S. D., and Giddins, R. L.
1991. Keystone species and mangrove forest dynamics: the influence of burrowing crabs on soil nutrient status and forest productivity. Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science, 31:113–123.Google Scholar
Smith, T. J. I., Chan, H. T., McIvor, C. C., and Robblee, M. B.
1989. Comparisons of seed predation in tropical tidal forests from three continents. Ecology, 70:146–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, , and Webb, . 1824. Description of some fossil vegetables of the Tilgate Forest in Sussex. Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 2:423.Google Scholar
Stromer, E.
1914. Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stormers in den Wüsten Ágyptens. I. Die Topographie und Geologie der Strecke Gharaq-Baharîje nebst Ausführungen über die geologische Geschichte-Agyptens. Abhandlungen der königlich bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, 16:1–78.Google Scholar
Stromer, E.
1915. Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wusten Ágyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharîje-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). 3. Das original des Theropoden Spinosaurus aegyptiacus nov. gen., nov. spec. Abhanlungen der Koniglich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-physikalische, 28:1–32.Google Scholar
Stromer, E.
1931. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharîje-Stufe (understes Cenoman). 10. Ein Skelett-Rest von Carcharodontosaurus nov. gen. Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung, 9:1–31.Google Scholar
Stromer, E.
1932. Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ágyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharîje-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). II. Sauropoda. Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung, N. F. 10.Google Scholar
Stromer, E.
1934. Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ágyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharîje-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). 13. Dinosauria. Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung N. F., 22:1–79.Google Scholar
Stromer, E.
1936. Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ágyptens. VII. Baharîje-Kessel und -Stufe mit deren Fauna und Flora. Eine ergänzende Zusammenfassung. Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-naturwissen-schaftliche Abteilung N. F., 33:1–102.Google Scholar
Tan, C. G. S., and Ng, P. K. L.
1994. An annotated checklist of mangrove brachyuran crabs from Malaysia and Singapore. Hydrobiologia, 285:75–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, G. F.
1967. The life history of the mangrove tree crab, Aratus pisonii
. Journal of Zoology, 153:321–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, G. F.
1977. The Biology of Crabs. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 202 p.Google Scholar
Weiler, W.
1935. Ergebnisse der Forchungreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Agyotens, II. Wirbeltierreste der Baharije-Stufe (understes Cenoman), 16. Neue Untersuchungen an den Fischesten. Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematischenaturwissenschaftliche Abteilung Neue Folge Hefte, 32:1–57.Google Scholar
Werner, C.
1989. Die Elasmobrachier-Fauna des gebel Dist Member der Bahariya Formation (obercenoman) der Oase Bahariya, Ágypten. Palaeo Icthyologica, 5:1–112.Google Scholar