Dakoticancer Rathbun, 1917

Guinot, Danièle & Quenette, Gwenaël, 2005, The spermatheca in podotreme crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Podotremata) and its phylogenetic implications, Zoosystema 27 (2), pp. 267-342 : 316

Genus Dakoticancer Rathbun, 1917

The American Cretaceous genus Dakoticancer shows female gonopores on the P3 coxae. On the developed sternal plate sutures 7/8 end in large, rounded orifices, which are considered homologous to spermathecal apertures ( Guinot 1993a: 1229, figs 7, 8; Guinot & Tavares 2003: fig. 10H). Maastrichtian Mexican specimens of D. australis Rathbun, 1917 , notably showing dislocation of sternal plates, were found associated with burrows, suggesting that these crabs molted in burrows to seek haven ( Vega & Feldmann 1991).

The diagnosis of the family Dakoticancridae Rathbun, 1917 by Bishop et al. (1998) must be corrected to: “sternum of females with longitudinal grooves constituted by sutures 7/8” [instead of “without”] and, additionally, it must indicate the presence of the large orifices which are homologous to the spermathecal apertures.