Contributions to Zoology, 72 (2-3) 131-132 (2003) SPB Academic Publishing bv, The Hague Justitia Holthuis, 1946 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Palinuridea) from the Middle Eocene of Verona and Vicenza (northern Italy) Alessandro Garassino¹ & Antonio De Angeli² 1 Dipartimento di Paleontologia degli Invertebrati, Museo civico di Storia naturale, C.so Venezia 55, 2 1-20121 Milano, Italy; Associazione Amici del Museo eG. Zannatol, Piazza Marconi, 15, 1-36075 Montecchio Maggiore (Vicenza), Italy Keywords:: Crustacea, Decapoda, Eocene, Italy Abstract (2001) later revised original nineteenth century samples (Museo di Storianaturale di Verona, Museo Recently, Beschin et al. have described two (2001) specimens Geologico e Paleontologico dell’Universita di Pa- of palinurids, discovered at Vi- Chiampo (“Albanello” quarry, and the basis of dova), confirmed, on carapace cenza, northern Italy). Preserved three dimensionally, these were ornament and the presence of three transverse and collected of The from limestones Lutetian (middle Eocene) age. on abdominal peculiar parallel gfooves somites, previous ornament of the dorsal carapace surface, consisting of imbricate scales in the and in assignment to the extant genus Justitia accepting cephalic region parallel grooves , thebranchial J. and cardiac regions, has allowed these to be ascribed desmaresti (Massalongo, 1854) as the valid name to Justitia Holthuis, vicetina Beschin 1946, as a new species (J. for the Monte Bolca species. et al., 2001), in the infraorderPalinurideaLatreille, 1802. This represents the record of first fossil this genus. The genus Justitia Introduction Currently, Justitia is represented in the fossil record This these J. vicetina J. recent discovery in the Vicenza area triggered only by two species, and des- a comparative study with material from Monte Bol- maresti, which differ in the ornament of the dorsal which the absence of ca, had never been described in any mor- carapace surface, presence or trans- and phological detail. Palinurids from Veronese outcrops verse parallel grooves on the abdominal somites and were recorded for the first time by Desmarest (1822), (Fig. I), stratigraphic age. A study of calcare- who assigned them to Palinurus Weber, 1795. The ous nannoplankton from Monte Bolca by Medizza of showed late description palinurids from Monte Bolca dates (1975) a Ypresian-early Lutetian age, back while at “Albanello” to the second half of the nineteenth century, quarry strata ofmiddle Lutetian when one specimen in Anchille de Zignois private age are exposed. collection The dorsal ornament of was recorded by de Zigno himself as carapace transverse ridges in Palinurus desmaresti, making reference to Desma- the two fossil species of Justitia also occurs in ns other Cenozoic earlier paper. However, de Zigno provided decapod crustaceans of Veneto, e.g., neither a description ofthe morphology of this taxon, Lophoranina Fabiani, 1910, Lovarina Beschin et nor 1991 an illustration. Subsequent to this first report, al., and Eopalicus Beschin et al., 1996. This other palinurids were discovered during excava- typical ornamentwas interpreted by Savazzi (1981) t'ons in the second half of the nineteenth century, to help the animal construct its burrows. Poupin h took 1975 observed that until for a brief morphological descrip- (1994) some extant palinurids prefer tor to bottoms in which appear (Secretan, 1975), although a number muddy they are able to hide them- °t authors made reference to these specimens in selves or excavate borrows. their papers and correspondence. Garassino & Novati 132 A. Garassino & A. De Angeli — Justitia from the Eocene of Verona linurus and Palaeopalinurus Bachmayer, 1954. The geographic distributionofmodern species of.Justitia, i.e., the warm seas of the Indo-Pacific and western Atlantic, further confirms the observation of some authors that there must have been close ties be- tween the rich and diverse Eocene faunas from and Veneto (northern Italy) those of tropical seas. References Beschin C, de Angeli A, Garassino A. 2001. Justitia vicetina delli Eocene di sp. nov. (Crustacea, Decapoda) Chiampo (Vicenza, Italia settentrionale). Studi Trent. Sci. not. Acta geol. 76 (1999): 89-97. Desmarest AG. 1822. Histoire nalurelle des Crustaces fos- siles. Paris: F.G. Levrault. Garassino A, Novati M. 2001. Justitia desmaresti (Massa- longo, 1854) (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Lutetian (Middle Eocene) of Monte Bolca (Verona, N Italy). Atti Soc. it. Sci. nat. Mas. civ. Storia nat. Milano 141: 251- 268. Medizza F. 1975. II nannoplancton calcareo della Pesciaia di Bolca (M.ti Lessini). Miscell. Paleont. Mus. civ. Storia nat.nat. Verona 2: 433-444. J. 1994. The Justitia with the Poupin genus Holthuis, 1946, of description J. chani and J. vericeli spp. nov. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palinuridea). Jour. Taiwan Mus. 47: 37-56. Savazzi E. 1981. Functional morphology of the cuticular Fig. I. Justitia desmaresti (Massalongo, 1854) (A) and Justitia terraces in Ranina (Lophoranina) (brachyuran decapods; vicetina Beschin, de Angeli & Garassino, 2001 (B) compared. Eocene of N. Italy). N. Jb. Geol. Paldont. Abb. 162: 231- 243. 1975. Crustaces du Secretan S. Les Monte Bolca. Studi e Ricerche sui giacimenti Terziari di Bolca. Miscell. Paleont. These fossils demonstrate that the species genus Mus. civ. Storia nat. Verona 2: 315-388. Justitia had its origins in Cenozoic time, and thus resembles other fossil palinurids assigned to Pa- Received: 2 March 2003.