Amazighopsis cretacica Garassino & Pasini 2018
Creators: name: Garassino, Alessandro
name: Pasini, Giovanni
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Amazighopsidae
Amazighopsis
Amazighopsis cretacica

description: Amazighopsis cretacica n. gen., n. sp.
Figs. 1-6
Diagnosis: as for family.
Etymology: the trivial name alludes to the Cretaceous, the geological age of the studied specimens.
Holotype: MSNM i27545.
Paratypes: MSNM i27546, MSNM i27646.
Type locality: Gara Sbaa (Kem Kem).
Material and measurements: three complete specimens, one of these (MSNM i27546) preserved as part and counterpart.
MSNM i27545 – tl: 45 mm; lcpx: 25 mm; wcpx: 12 mm; lp: 10 mm; wp: 7 mm; ldi: 8 mm
MSNM i27546 – tl: 65 mm; lp: 10 mm; wp: 7 mm; ldi: 9 mm
MSNM i27646 – lp: 10 mm; wp: 7 mm; ldi: 9 mm
Description. Carapace – Subcylindrical carapace strongly granular, laterally compressed; dorsal margin slightly convex; posterior margin nearly straight; triangular, short rostrum with serrate suprarostral margin, bearing 4-5 pairs of teeth; dorsal rostral surface concave without median carina; subrostral margin spineless; deep cervical groove nearly straight, strongly inclined forward, reaching the dorsal margin at the anterior third of the total carapace length (excluding rostrum), making an angle of about 45° to the dorsal margin; antennal groove short and weak; cephalic region shorter than branchial one; branchiocardiac, postcervical, and hepatic grooves absent; carapace surface without accessory spines. Pleon – s1 short, narrow; s2 with subrounded pleura partially overlapping those of s1 and s3; convex pleurae, slightly rounded ventrally, ending in a short point; tergites and pleurae of s1-s6 smooth; subtrapezoidal telson without diaeresis, and lateral margins with one median movable spine and two distal movable spines. Cephalic appendages – Cephalic appendages poorly preserved, flagella of antennulae and antennae partially preserved; antennae flagella stronger than those of the antennulae. Thoracic appendages – mpx3 and P2-P5 not preserved; P1 slightly heterochelous, with ischium, merus, carpus, and propodus strongly granulate; right P1 with squared ischium, subrectangular elongate merus, convex and serrate dorsally; stout subtriangular carpus with serrate dorsal margin; elongate subrectangular chela serrate dorsally, outer surface with two parallel longitudinal rows of strongly aligned tuberculate spines; right P1 chela with elongate dactylus and index, equal in length and curved distally; index slightly stronger than dactylus; index occlusal margin with a row of strong, rounded molariform teeth inclined distally and arranged randomly; dactylus occlusal margin, with a row of pointed, elongate, and slender teeth strongly inclined distally; left P1 propodus, merus, and carpus similar in shape and ornamentation of right P1; left chela poorly preserved, looks slightly stouter than the right with stronger index and dactylus, occlusal margins bearing a rim of similar rounded molariform teeth. Pleonal appendages – Pleopods poorly preserved; uropodal endopod and exopod as long as telson; uropodal endopod and exopod rounded posteriorly with one thin longitudinal median carina and spiny margins; uropodal exopod without diaeresis.
description: Published as part of Garassino, Alessandro & Pasini, Giovanni, 2018, Amazighopsidae, a new family of decapod macruran astacideans from the late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) of Gara Sbaa, Southeastern Morocco, pp. 11-18 in Natural History Sciences 5 (1) on page 13, DOI: 10.4081/nhs.2018.358, http://zenodo.org/record/12523821