First record of Dromia neogenica Müller, 1979 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Dromiidae) from Neogene strata in the southern North Sea basin

Abstract

The sponge crab Dromia neogenica Muller, 1979 (Dromiidae) is recorded for the first time from strata of Neogene (late Miocene-early Pliocene) age in the southern North Sea Basin, on the basis of two concretion-preserved carapaces from Bemmel (north of Nijmegen, province of Gelderland, The Netherlands). The presence of this species, which was previously known from the middle-upper Miocene of Hungary and Algeria, suggests relatively higher seawater temperatures in the North Sea during the late Miocene-early Pliocene. Morphological differences (extraorbital and anterolateral teeth, development of cervical and branchiocardiac grooves) between D. neogenica and extant D. personata (Linnaeus, 1758) are relatively minor. This observation, coupled with the absence of the former species in mid-Pliocene and younger strata, and with the robust record of the latter in the mid-Pliocene to upper Pleistocene of Italy, would indicate that D. neogenica and D. personata are closely related, and probably represent the same lineage. Keywords: Dromia neogenica Muller; Dromiidae; Miocene; Neogene strata; Netherlands; southern North Sea Basin