ASSESSMENT AND EXPANSION OF THE FOSSIL DECAPOD CRUSTACEAN GENUS RANINA OF THE NORTHEASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN

Newly collected specimens of the fossil decapod crustacean genus Ranina will more than triple the known fossil record of this genus from the northeastern Pacific Ocean. These include new Ranina species from the: late Eocene Hesquiat Formation of British Columbia, Canada; the middle Eocene Hoko River Formation of Washington; the late Eocene to early Miocene Lincoln Creek Formation of Washington; the late Eocene Quimper Sandstone of Washington; the middle Eocene Coaledo Formation of Oregon; the Oligocene Yamhill Formation of Oregon; and the Miocene Tuxpan Formation of México. This adds seven new species of the genus Ranina to the three fossil species described thus far from the northeastern Pacific Ocean which include: Ranina americana from the middle Eocene Hoko River Formation of Washington; Ranina berglundi from the early Eocene Bateque Formation of Baja California, México; and Ranina tejoniana from the middle Eocene of California. Both the first occurrence and the most recent fossil species of the genus have been collected from Mexico. These fossil occurrences demonstrate that the genus Ranina was well established in the northeastern Pacific Ocean from at least the early Eocene until the Miocene. Today the genus Ranina has only one extant species, Ranina ranina limited to the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Continued taxonomic work and related paleobiogeography of the decapod crustaceans of the northeastern Pacific Ocean has demonstrated an increasing correlation between genera of the northeastern Pacific Ocean from México to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. This is exemplified in the fossil record of the decapod crustacean genus Ranina but also reflects many other genera of decapod crustaceans of the northeastern Pacific Ocean.