SQUILLOIDEA Latreille, 1802

Schweitzer, Carrie E. & Feldmann, Rodney M., 2010, New fossil decapod crustaceans from the Remy Collection, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, Geodiversitas 32 (3), pp. 399-415 : 412

Superfamily SQUILLOIDEA Latreille, 1802

Family SQUILLIDAE Latreille, 1802 Genus Ursquilla Hof, 1998

TYPE SPECIES. — Eryon yehoachi Remy & Avnimelech, 1955 , by original designation.

Ursquilla yehoachi ( Remy & Avnimelech, 1955) ( Fig. 3 )

Eryon yehoachi Remy & Avnimelech, 1955: 311 , pl. 14a.

Ursquilla yehoachi – Hof 1998: 258, figs 2-4.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype by monotypy ( MNHN R62691, coll. Yehoach).

Hof (1998) listed additional specimens.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Road from Beersheba to Mount Sedom, valley of Wadi Seiyal, Israel, Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) ( Remy & Avnimelech 1955: 312).

DISCUSSION

At the time of preparation of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, classification of the stomatopods was considered to be quite simple ( Holthuis & Manning 1969: R543). Holthuis & Manning (1969) referred the 24 genera of fossil and extant stomatopods to only two families. Since that time, extensive work on the group has resulted in a proliferation of suprageneric taxa so that Martin & Davis (2001) recognized seven superfamilies and 17 families of living forms. Far less proliferation of fossil taxa has resulted owing to the paucity of work on fossil stomatopods since 1969.

Hof (1998) restudied the type material of Eryon yehoachi as well as additional unidentified specimens and placed them into a new family and genus of stomatopod. Holthuis & Manning (1969: R541) had already tentatively assigned the holotype of Eryon yehoachi to Squilla ; thus, recognition that it belonged within the Stomatopoda and not the Decapoda had been recognized for quite some time. Later, Ahyong (2008) synonymized Ursquillidae Hof, 1998 , with Squillidae based upon comprehensive phylogenetic analysis including most fossils.

Figures

FIG. 3. — Fossil Stomatopoda from Monségur (Gironde, France), Ursquilla yehoachi (Remy & Avnimelech, 1955), cast of holotype, MNHN R62691. Scale bar: 1 cm.