Description of Priscinachus elongatus n. gen., n. sp., and Priscinachidae n. fam. for the earliest spider crab (Crustacea, Decapoda, Majoidea), from the French Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Gérard BRETON Université de Rennes I, Laboratoire Géosciences, Campus de Beaulieu, F-35042 Rennes cedex (France) and 6 rue des réservoirs, F-76600 Le Havre (France)
[email protected] Breton G. 2009. — Description of Priscinachus elongatus n. gen., n. sp., and Priscinachidae n. fam. for the earliest spider crab (Crustacea, Decapoda, Majoidea), from the French Creta- ceous (Cenomanian). Geodiversitas 31 (3) : 509-523. ABSTRACT KEY WORDS Crustacea, Priscinachus elongatus n. gen., n. sp., is based on four specimens from two Brachyura, lower Cenomanian exposures, separated by 85 km in the western Paris Basin. Decapoda, It is the earliest known spider crab, the Majoidea being previously known Priscinachidae n. fam., Priscinachus n. gen., only from the lower Eocene. Priscinachus elongatus n. gen., n. sp. deserves Cretaceous, its own family, the Priscinachidae n. fam., within the Majoidea Samouelle, Cenomanian, Paris Basin, 1818, due to the original combination of characters which is not found Normandy, within any other majoid family. In both exposures, the fossils are preserved France, in a hard-ground, deposited in a shallow but open sea, in a transgressive new family, new genus, context. Decapod fossils have been transported and often broken before new species. deposition. RÉSUMÉ Description de Priscinachus elongatus n. gen., n. sp., et de Priscinachidae n. fam. pour la plus ancienne araignée de mer connue (Crustacea, Decapoda, Majoidea), du Crétacé (Cénomanien) de France. MOTS CLÉS Crustacea, Priscinachus elongatus n. gen., n. sp.