The lobster genus Squamosoglyphea Beurlen, 1930 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Glypheidae) in the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones of southern Germany

Morphological insights into the lobster genus Uncina Quenstedt, 1851 based on new material from the Ya Ha Tinda Konservat-Lagerstätte, Canada (Early Jurassic)

“…Crustaceans are important components of benthic marine communities in both modern and ancient oceans. Decapod crustaceans have a welldocumented fossil record through the Jurassic but are mostly known from European sites, such as the Toarcian Posidonia Shale in Germany, and Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones, like the Solnhofen Limestone in Germany (Schweigert et al, 2003;Klompmaker et al, 2013;Schweitzer and Feldmann, 2014). To date, there has been very little work on Jurassic crustaceans from sites outside of Europe (i.e., the Panthalassa Ocean).…”

“…Globally, Uncina is represented by four extinct species from the Early Jurassic (201 Ma to 174 Ma). Although uncinid lobsters have been found in deposits from the Panthalassa Ocean, namely Japan (Karasawa, 2002) and Canada (Feldmann and Copeland, 1988;Schweigert et al, 2003), most studied and articulated specimens are from Tethyan strata in Franconia, northwest and southwest Germany, as well as eastern France, and northern Italy (Schweigert et al, 2003) (Figure 1). In addition to the paucity of material from Panthalassa, Uncina pacifica Schweigert Garassino, Hall, Hauff, and Karasawa, 2003 (Canada and Japan) and Uncina alpina Schweigert, Garassino, Hall, Hauff, and Karasawa, 2003 (Germany) are only known from a few specimens of cheliped material.…”

“…Moreover, Uncina ollerenshawi Feldmann and Copeland, 1988 (Canada) has, until recently, only been known from one molted specimen with poor sclerotization (Feldmann and Copeland, 1988). The diagnosis of Uncina originally was largely based on the type species, Uncina posidoniae Quenstedt, 1851 (Germany) and emended diagnoses have not benefitted from extensive studies of complete specimens (i.e., majority of the cephalothorax, pleon, and chelae) from the three other species (Schweigert et al, 2003). Recent dis-coveries at the Ya Ha Tinda Konservat-Lagerstätte in Alberta, Canada (Figure 1) Muscente et al, 2019), have substantially increased the number of Uncina specimens available for study including several articulated or mostly complete body fossils yielding new morphological information on the two Panthalassan species, U. ollerenshawi and U. pacifica.…”

“…Herein, we provide emended diagnoses of the Panthalassan Uncina species as well as the FIGURE 1. Paleogeographic map from the Early Jurassic indicating where Uncina lobsters have been found (Feldmann and Copeland, 1988;Karasawa, 2002;Schweigert et al, 2003;. The yellow star represents Ya Ha Tinda, Alberta, Canada, the red star represents the European sites bearing Uncina alpina and U. posidoniae, and the orange star represents the modern-day Japanese site bearing Uncina pacifica (Karasawa, 2002).…”

The decapod crustaceans of the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones: A historical review and some recent discoveries

“…A better communication between scientists, amateurs and fossil traders, triggered by an internet website dedicated exclusively to Solnhofen fossils (http://forum.solnhofen-fossilienatlas.de) brought to light excellently preserved material. Some of the new specimens have been meanwhile described (e.g., POLZ 1990POLZ , 2000POLZ , 2007SCHWEIGERT et al 2000;SCHWEIGERT 20mb, 2002SCHWEIGERT 20mb, , 2003SCHWEIGERT 20mb, , 2010SCHWEIGERT & ROPER 2001;SCHWEIGERT & GARASSINO2003, 2004, 2005a, b, 2006.…”