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Binkhorstiidae, a new family of crabs (Decapoda, Brachyura, Retroplumoidea) from the Upper Cretaceous of the Netherlands and Belgium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2024

Barry W.M. van Bakel
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands Oertijdmuseum, Boxtel, the Netherlands
John W.M. Jagt
Affiliation:
Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands
René H.B. Fraaije*
Affiliation:
Oertijdmuseum, Boxtel, the Netherlands
Danièle Guinot
Affiliation:
Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
Pedro Artal
Affiliation:
Museo Geológico del Seminario de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Stijn Goolaerts
Affiliation:
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
*
Corresponding author: René Fraaije; Email: info@oertijdmuseum.nl

Abstract

In addition to the type species, Binkhorstia ubaghsii, which is fairly common in the upper part of the Nekum Member (Maastricht Formation) in the wider vicinity of Maastricht (the Netherlands) and Binkhorstia euglypha, which appears to be restricted to the overlying Meerssen Member of the same formation (uppermost Maastrichtian), a third member, B. desaegheri nov. sp., is recorded from the upper middle Santonian of the Campine area in north-east Belgium. The history of Binkhorstia is convoluted, serving as a prime example of how attempts to unravel the higher-level taxonomic position of late Mesozoic crabs may prove difficult. Over time, the genus has been referred to various families or subfamilies, either podotreme or putative eubrachyuran; here the new family Binkhorstiidae is placed in the superfamily Retroplumoidea. Binkhorstiids appear to have been a relatively short-lived endemic group that fell victim to Cretaceous‒Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary perturbations.

Information

Type
Original Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Netherlands Journal of Geosciences Foundation
Figure 0

Figure 1. Schematic map of the Maastricht (Netherlands) and Campine (Belgium) areas, with localities (quarries, outcrops) that have yielded species of Binkhorstia, and stratigraphical ranges of B. ubaghsii, B. euglypha and B. desaegheri nov. sp.

Figure 1

Figure 2. Binkhorstia ubaghsii (van Binkhorst, 1857): (A–D) male specimen (MAB 15928, leg. Robert Pieters) in oblique dorsal (A), dorsal (B), ventral (C) and oblique ventral (D) aspects, CBR-Romontbos quarry (Eben Emael, province of Liège, north-east Belgium), upper third of Nekum Member, Maastricht Formation (upper Maastrichtian), arrow in C indicates vertically oriented sternite 7, arrows in D indicate coxae of fifth pereiopods; (E, F) right (major) and left (minor) cheliped, arrow indicates molariform crushing tooth; (G, H) female specimen (MAB15929, leg. Yvonne Coole) in oblique ventral, and ventral view, arrows indicate vulvae at extremity of suture (see text for details), CBR-Romontbos quarry (Eben Emael, province of Liège, north-east Belgium), upper third of Nekum Member, Maastricht Formation (upper Maastrichtian). All scale bars equal 5 mm.

Figure 2

Figure 3. Carapaces (dorsal view) of Binkhorstia spp.: (A) Binkhorstia ubaghsii, for data see Figure 2; (B) B. desaegheri sp. nov., holotype (IRSNB 11512, shaft I of Houthalen colliery, eastern Campine Basin (north-east Belgium), depth 583–585 m below surface, Vaals Formation, either middle/upper part of Asdonk Member, or basal part of overlying Sonnisheide Member, upper middle Santonian; (C) B. euglypha Collins, Fraaye & Jagt, 1995, holotype (MAB15927), former Blom quarry (Berg en Terblijt, southern Limburg, the Netherlands), upper part of Meerssen Member, Maastricht Formation (uppermost Maastrichtian). Not to scale.