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The oldest freshwater crabs: claws on dinosaur bones

Ninon Robin, Barry W.M. van Bakel, Matúš Hyžný, Aude Cincotta, Géraldine Garcia, Sylvain Charbonnier, Pascal Godefroit, Xavier Valentin
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/747535
Ninon Robin
1Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie – Paris (CR2P, UMR 7207), Sorbonne Université, MNHN, CNRS, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Département Origines & Évolution (CP38), 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris (France). ;
2School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Distillery Fields, North Mall, Cork, T23 N73K. Ireland
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  • For correspondence: ninonrobin23@gmail.com ninonrobin23@gmail.com sylvain.charbonnier@mnhn.fr aude.cincotta@ucc.ie
Barry W.M. van Bakel
3Oertijdmuseum, Bosscheweg 80, 5283 WB Boxtel, the Netherlands; and Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands.
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  • For correspondence: barryvanbakel@gmail.com
Matúš Hyžný
4Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina G1, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia.
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  • For correspondence: hyzny.matus@gmail.com
Aude Cincotta
2School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Distillery Fields, North Mall, Cork, T23 N73K. Ireland
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  • For correspondence: aude.cincotta@ucc.ie
Géraldine Garcia
5Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Évolution, Paléoécosystèmes et Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM, UMR7262 CNRS INEE), Université de Poitiers, 6, rue Michel-Brunet, 86073 Poitiers cedex, France. ;
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  • For correspondence: geraldine.garcia@univ-poitiers.fr xavier.valentin@univ-poitiers.fr
Sylvain Charbonnier
1Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie – Paris (CR2P, UMR 7207), Sorbonne Université, MNHN, CNRS, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Département Origines & Évolution (CP38), 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris (France). ;
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  • For correspondence: ninonrobin23@gmail.com sylvain.charbonnier@mnhn.fr
Pascal Godefroit
6Directorate ‘Earth & History of Life’, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, rue Vautier 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
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  • For correspondence: Pascal.Godefroit@naturalsciences.be
Xavier Valentin
5Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Évolution, Paléoécosystèmes et Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM, UMR7262 CNRS INEE), Université de Poitiers, 6, rue Michel-Brunet, 86073 Poitiers cedex, France. ;
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  • For correspondence: geraldine.garcia@univ-poitiers.fr xavier.valentin@univ-poitiers.fr
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Abstract

With approximately 1,500 extant species, freshwater crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) are among the most diverse decapod crustaceans. Nevertheless, their fossil record is extremely limited: only Potamidae, Potamonautidae and Trichodactylidae are reported up to the Eocene of the Neotropics so far. This work documents unusually large decapod claws from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) continental deposits of Velaux and vicinity (southern France), in close association with large vertebrate remains. In addition to (1) the systematic assignment of these claws, the study addresses (2) the salinity trends in the deposit environment from its faunal assemblage and the elementary chemical patterns of fossils, and (3) the likely scenario for their auto/allochtony in the Velaux fluvial system. These claws belong to a new taxon, Dinocarcinus velauciensis n. gen. n. sp., referred to as Portunoidea sensu lato, a group of “true” crabs nowadays linked to marine systems. However, the faunal assemblage, the claw taphonomy and the carbonates Y/Ho signatures support their ancient freshwater/terrestrial ecology, making them the oldest reported continental brachyurans and extending the presence of crabs in freshwater environments by 40 Ma. Either as primary or as secondary freshwater crabs, the occurrence of these portunoids in Velaux is an evidence for the independent colonizations of continental environments by multiple brachyuran clades over time, as early as the Campanian.

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Posted August 28, 2019.
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The oldest freshwater crabs: claws on dinosaur bones
Ninon Robin, Barry W.M. van Bakel, Matúš Hyžný, Aude Cincotta, Géraldine Garcia, Sylvain Charbonnier, Pascal Godefroit, Xavier Valentin
bioRxiv 747535; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/747535
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The oldest freshwater crabs: claws on dinosaur bones
Ninon Robin, Barry W.M. van Bakel, Matúš Hyžný, Aude Cincotta, Géraldine Garcia, Sylvain Charbonnier, Pascal Godefroit, Xavier Valentin
bioRxiv 747535; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/747535

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