Cancer sismondai Meyer, 1843

Charbonnier, Sylvain, Garassino, Alessandro, Pasini, Giovanni & Chény, Cédric, 2024, Review of brachyuran crabs from the late Miocene (Messinian) of Oran, Algeria, Geodiversitas 46 (2), pp. 13-29 : 22

Cancer sismondai Meyer, 1843

( Fig. 4 A-E)

Cancer sismondae Meyer, 1843: 590 .

Cancer deshayesii A. Milne-Edwards, 1864a: 74-76 , pl. 4, fig. 1, 2, pl. 5, fig. 2.

Lobocarcinus sismondai – Ossó et al. 2022: 213 , 214, fig. 4a-c (cum syn.).

TYPE MATERIAL. — Cancer sismondai : holotype from the Pliocene of Santo Stefano Roero , Piedmont, Italy, figured by A. Sismonda (1839: figs A, B), but lost during Second World War after Bonfiglio & Donadeo (1982) .

Cancer deshayesii : syntype MNHN.F.B39264 (Marès coll.) from the Pliocene of Alger, Algeria ; other syntypes (Deshayes coll.) from the Messinian of Oran are housed in the collection of the Ecole des Mines de Paris deposited at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France .

EXAMINED MATERIAL. — 23 specimens from Les Planteurs quarry, Oran ( MNHN.F.A51668, A51669, A51670, A51671, A51672, A51673, A51674, A51675, A51676, A51677, A51738, A51739, A51740, A51741, A41743, A41744, A41745, A41746, A41747, A51748, A51750, A51761, A51946, MNHN.F.R03507, R03537, Arambourg coll.) .

DISCUSSION

A. Milne-Edwards(1864a) first described Cancer deshayesii based on a spectacular specimen from the Pliocene marls of Alger and other specimens (Deshayes coll.) from the Miocene of Oran. This species was later synonymized with Cancer sismondai Meyer, 1843 by Ristori (1886). This synonymy and the placement in Lobocarcinus Reuss, 1857 , was discussed by several authors through the 20th century (e.g., Van Straelen 1937; Bonfiglio & Donadeo 1982) until Ossó et al. (2022). All the Algerian specimens assigned to deshayesii or sismondai are currently in review by the authors and will be the subject of a future publication.

Figures

FIG. 4. — Cancrid crabs from the late Messinian of Oran (Les Planteurs quarry, Arambourg coll.): A-E, Cancer sismondai Meyer, 1843: MNHN.F.A51761, dorsal and ventral views (A, B); MNHN.F.A51741, dorsal and ventral views (C, D); MNHN.F.A51740, ventral view (E); F, Cancer sp., MNHN.F.A51742, outer view of P1 chela. Scale bars: 2 cm. Photographs: Lilian Cazes.