Ranina elegans Rathbun, 1945

Pasini, Giovanni & Garassino, Alessandro, 2017, A preliminary review of the fossil species of Ranina Lamarck, 1801 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Raninidae), with systematic remarks, Natural History Sciences 4 (1), pp. 43-72 : 59-60

Ranina elegans Rathbun, 1945

Fig. 13

Ranina elegans Rathbun, 1945: 375 , Pl. 55, Figs F, G.

Ranina elegans - Schweitzer et al. 2010: 74. – De Angeli & Beschin 2011: 13. – Van Bakel et al. 2012: 209. – Karasawa et al. 2014: 260.

Type material: holotype, USNM 498404 ; paratype lost (K. Hollis pers. comm., 2015).

Type locality: Vanua Mbalavu (station 110B), Lau, Fiji; Futuna formation.

Geological age: Miocene.

Examined material: holotype.

Description by Rathbun (1945): “ Holotype, a portion of carapace, showing the surface of the left posterior side; surface almost level, very slightly convex; the major part is covered with short, irregular, transverse raised lines, composed of rounded granules directed forward; the anterior and anterolateral regions are more closely roughened; posterior end bluntly thickened; in front of it a long curved row of granules which trends inward a little toward a median gap; the ornamentation of the exposed surface is longitudinally oblique to the marginal line and consists of slightly arched lines edged with minute granules. ”

Discussion. Based upon Rathbun’s description and figures, it is difficult to determine a generic placement for this specimen, lacking all Ranina characters. Moreover the paratype, consisting in a left palm and figured by Rathbun (1945: Pl. 55, Fig. G) is today lost. The inability to recognize the diagnostic characters of Ranina questions the placement of elegans within the genus.

However the presence of short transverse raised lines with rounded granules does not fit into the typical ornamentation of Ranina , remembering instead the transverse tegulate ornamentation of Lophoranina .

Figures

Fig. 13 - Ranina elegans Rathbun, 1945, holotype, USNM 498404 (x 5).