Thursday 11 June 2020

PORTUNOID CRAB

Ventral view of the carnivorous portunoid crab Ophthalmoplax brasiliana (Maury, 1930) from the latest Maastrichtian (~66.2 Ma.) deposits near Coahuila, northern Mexico.

This marine species was originally thought to have been found only in the upper Member, Owl Creek Formation,  Late/Upper Maastrichtian deposits of Tippah County in Mississippi, USA. 

Sohl and Koch published on the Mississippian find in the USGS in 1983. Francisco J. Vega and Torry Nyborg, along with George Phillips and Jose F. Ventura published on the Morphology and size variation of a portunoid crab from the Maastrichtian of the Americas in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences in November 2013. Fedorov and Nyborg published on this same species again in 2017. Paleocoordinates: (34.8° N, 88.9° W: 38.3° N, 66.2° W)

Vega, Francisco & Phillips, George & Nyborg, Torrey & Ventura, José F. & Clements, Don & Espinosa, Belinda & Solís-Pichardo, Gabriela. (2013). Morphology and size variation of a portunoid crab from the Maastrichtian of the Americas. Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 47. 116–135. 10.1016/j.jsames.2013.07.005. Photo: Ophthalmoplax brasiliana by the deeply awesome José F. Ventura‎