OLDEST KNOWN MEMBERS OF MUNIDIDAE (DECAPODA, ANOMURA, GALATHEOIDEA) DISCOVERED FROM LATE JURASSIC

Ongoing study of the Friedrich Bachmayer Collection from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) Ernstbrunn Limestones of Ernstbrunn, Austria, has yielded approximately 40 new species of galatheoids (squat lobsters). Prior to this study, only 12 galatheoid species were known from the Late Jurassic. While the majority of these new species fall within the Munidopsidae, three of these new species represent the oldest known members of both the Munididae and Porcellanidae. The Munididae is the most diverse family within the Galatheoidea; however, the vast majority of those species are extant. Only seven of the over 350 species within Munididae have been found in the fossil record; all others are extant without a known fossil record. One new genus containing two new species has been found, increasing the number of fossil munidids to nine. Previously, the fossil record for the munidids extended into the Late Cretaceous, represented by one partially preserved specimen; all other fossil munidids are Cenozoic in age. This new discovery extends the development of the Munididae into the Late Jurassic. The oldest Porcellanidae has previously been reported from this locality (Schweitzer & Feldmann, 2010); an additional new species attributed to the Porcellanidae has recently been discovered within the Bachmayer collection. These new findings strengthen the idea that the shallow Tethys seas of the Late Jurassic were host to the massive diversification of galatheoids, as all but one family within the Galatheoidea now have roots in the Mid-Late Jurassic. The Munididae developed at approximately the same time as the galatheoid families Munidopsidae (Middle Jurassic), the Galatheidae (Late Jurassic), the Porcellanidae (Late Jurassic), as well as a new, extinct family of galatheoids from the Late Jurassic. The remaining new species will be assigned to several different families within the Galatheoidea. Extensive revision of the Galatheoidea is ongoing. Museum and field work supported by NSF EF0531670 to Feldmann and Schweitzer.