Galathea, Fabricius, 1793

Pasini, Giovanni, Garassino, Alessandro & Sami, Marco, 2019, Decapod assemblage from the late Miocene (early-middle Messinian) of the Romagna Apennines nearby Brisighella, Emilia-Romagna (N Italy), Natural History Sciences 6 (1), pp. 27-32 : 29

Galathea cf. G. weinfurteri Bachmayer, 1950

Fig. 2A

Material and measurements: One incomplete carapace ( MSF 2337 – lcxp: 5 mm, wcxp: 5 mm).

Description. Carapace subrectangular, slightly voulted transversely, lacking the rostrum; anterior and lateral margins poorly preserved. Cervical groove distinct, V shaped, diverging frontally. Carapace ornamented with undulate striae, crossing tranversely the dorsal surface, well separated each to others, and alternate by some lateral shorter striae.

Discussion. Though the specimen is poorly preserved lacking of the distinctive specific characters of front and rostrum, some proxy characters of the carapace ornamentation allow us to compare the studied specimen to Galathea weinfurteri Bachmayer, 1950 , from the Miocene of Paratethys and Mediterranean basin according to Hyžný et al. (2014: 244). Indeed, the studied specimen shares with G. weinfurteri some characters such as the carapace subrectangular slightly voulted transversely; cervical groove deep; anterior and posterior branchs equally incisive; carapace ornamented with transverse striae; two postfrontal striae, curved in median part and interrupted by short groove ( Hyžný et al., 2014: 244). This species has also been reported from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) of Valmarana (Vicenza) (De Angeli & Garassino, 2002). Fossil representatives of Galathea are commonly associated with reef communities. The extant Atlantic- Mediterranean representatives of the genus inhabits rock bottoms with corals or hydrozoans, or Posidonia grasslands ranging from a depth of a few metres to 750 metres.

Figures

Fig. 2 - A) Galathea cf. G. weinfurteri Bachmayer, 1950, MSF 2337 (x 3.1). B) Medorippe ampla Garassino, De Angeli, Gallo & Pasini, 2004, MSF 2317 (x 8). C) Palaeomyra bispinosa A. Milne Edwards in E. Sismonda, 1861, MSF 2314 (x 3).