J. Paleont., 79(4), 2005, pp. 663±669 Copyright q 2005, The Paleontological Society 0022-3360/05/0079-663$03.00 HARPACTOCARCINUS FROM THE EOCENE OF ISTRIA, CROATIA, AND THE PALEOECOLOGY OF THE ZANTHOPSIDAE VIA, 1959 (CRUSTACEA: DECAPODA: BRACHYURA) CARRIE E. SCHWEITZER,1 VLASTA CÂ OSOVICÂ ,2 AND RODNEY M. FELDMANN3 1Department of Geology, Kent State University Stark Campus, Canton, Ohio 44720, ,
[email protected]., 2Department of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia, ,
[email protected]., and 3Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, ,
[email protected]. ABSTRACTÐHarpactocarcinus punctulatus istriensis Bachmayer and Nosan, 1959 is elevated to species level. Analysis of the larger foraminiferans associated with specimens of H. istriensis suggests a habitat preference for off-shore, clear, shelf environments below fair-weather wave base and an age of early to middle Lutetian (Eocene). A review of the paleoenvironmental indicators for nearly all species within the genera referred to the Zanthopsidae Via, 1959 suggests that all exhibit similar habitat preferences. Description of the paleoenvironmental preference for an entire extinct decapod family has not before been possible. INTRODUCTION The ``marls with crabs'' have been assigned a lower middle OSSIL DECAPOD crustaceans have been reported from various Eocene, speci®cally middle Lutetian, age in the FloricÏicÂi region localities in Istria (Croatia and Slovenia) on several occa- (JuracÏicÂ, 1979), from which we collected specimens of Harpac- F  sions; however, these reports have been limited to nineteenth- tocarcinus (Drobne et al., 1979; Pavlovec et al., 1991; Cosovic century and early twentieth-century descriptions (Bittner, 1883, and Drobne, 1998).