Pyreneplax basaensis new genus, new species (Decapoda, Brachyura, Vultocinidae) from the Priabonian (Late Eocene) of the Pyrenees of Huesca (Aragón, Spain), and remarks on the genus Lobonotus A. Milne-Edwards, 1863

Abstract

New fossil brachyuran finds in the Margas de Arguís Formation (Priabonian, Late Eocene) in the Central Pyrenees of Aragon (Spain), allow the description of a new genus and a new species (Pyreneplax basaensis), and the revision of some taxa previously assigned to the genus Lobonotus A. Milne-Edwards, 1863 (Carpilioidea: Tumidocarcinidae). According to the close similarity between Pyreneplax n. gen. and Lobonotus sandersi (Blow and Manning, 1997), L. granosus (Beschin, Busulini, De Angeli and Tessier, 2002) and L. sommarugai Beschin, Busulini and Tessier, 2009, these species are here assigned to the new genus. In addition, an important set of dorsal and ventral characters shared with the extant species Vultocinus anfractus Ng and Manuel-Santos, 2007, suggests the inclusion of the new genus in the family Vultocinidae Ng and Manuel-Santos, 2007 (Goneplacoidea). Remarks on the genus Lobonotus are also discussed herein.