Teruzzicheles popeyei, an early Sinemurian polychelid lobster from the Osteno Lagerstätte (Italy)
Résumé
Polychelidae (Crustacea, Decapoda, Polychelida) first occurred in the Triassic, but until recently, no occurrence was reported between the Norian– Rhaetian and the Toarcian–Aalenian, a gap of about 34 Ma. In the present paper, we reassign Coleia popeyei Teruzzi, 1990 to a new genus,
Teruzzicheles, and show this species belongs to Polychelidae, not to Coleiidae as initially thought. Teruzzicheles popeyei nov. gen., nov. comb. has a characteristic frontal margin placed posteriorly to the outer angle of the ocular incision, third maxilliped ischium with straight parallel margins and
shallow cervical and hepatic incisions typical of Polychelidae. More precisely, the presence of a diaeresis on the uropodal exopod suggests this species may be closer related to Pseudocoleia mazzoleni Garassino & Teruzzi, 1990 (Norian– Rhaetian, Italy) and Hellerocaris falloti (Van Straelen, 1923) (Callovian, France). This new familial assignment suggests that Polychelidae may have a continuous presence in deep waters from the Carnian to modern times. The angles of the frontal margin of T. popeyei and its stout first pereiopod propodus, reminiscent of the extant Cardus crucifer (WyvilleThompson, 1873) and juvenile Tethyseryon campanicus (Bravi et al., 2014) (Bajocian/Bathonian, Italy), suggest it evolved by neoteny.