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On the affinities of three fossil ocypodid crabs and their relevance to the time and place of origin of the genus Macrophthalmus (Crustacea: Brachyura)
Author(s) -
Barnes R. S. K.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1968.tb01667.x
Subject(s) - biology , subgenus , genus , extant taxon , paleontology , mediterranean climate , range (aeronautics) , affinities , late miocene , crustacean , zoology , ecology , evolutionary biology , biochemistry , materials science , structural basin , composite material
All the species of Macrophthalmus described from fossil material belong to the still extant subgenus Venitus. M. vindobonensis and M. aquensis , the two earliest known species of the genus, are closely related to the extant M. latreillei , while M. guamensis is conspecific with M. leptophthalmus. Doubt is cast on Remy's (1952) theory of the late Tertiary migration of Macrophthalmus from the Mediterranean, its suggested place of origin, to the Indo‐West Pacific, its present distributional range. Instead it is proposed that Macrophthalmus arose in the Indo‐West Pacific during the late Eocene‐Oligocene, and extended its range into the Mediterranean during the early‐middle Miocene. The Mediterranean species became isolated during the late Miocene by a land bridge, and probably became extinct following the elevation of their brackish habitat during the late Miocene‐Pliocene.