Poggibonsi (Pliocene of Italy)

Where: Tuscany, Italy (43.5° N, 11.2° E: paleocoordinates 43.4° N, 11.1° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Piacenzian (3.6 - 2.6 Ma)

• Upper part of the Pliocene Val d’Elsa Basin succession. The fossiliferous deposits belong to the San Miniato Synthem and are middle Pliocene in age.

Environment/lithology: shoreface; unlithified, massive, burrowed, medium-grained, pebbly sandstone

• The study deposits are interpreted to have been formed in a shallow marine setting, and in particular as accumulating in a shoreface environment. The well-stratified sand forming the lower part of the section was probably formed in an upper shoreface, according to the grain size and dominance of plane-parallel stratification. An upper shoreface scenario is also proposed also for the crustaceous-bearing interval, although the decrease in grain size and a parallel increase in bioturbation could suggest a decrease in the hydrodynamic regime, possibly forced by a minor increase in water depth.
• Uncemented sand. Medium massive sand with isolated small pebbles characterized by a poorly-defined bedding. These deposits contain abundant cylindrical burrows.

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: Repository: Museo Geologico e Paleontologico, Firenze (IGF)

Primary reference: A. Garassino, A. De Angeli, G. Pasini and F. Tangocci. 2010. Ocypode italica n. sp. (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Ocypodidae) from the Piacentian (middle Pliocene) of Tuscany (Central Italy). Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 151(2):135-144 [C. Schweitzer/E. Johnson/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 127507: authorized by Carrie Schweitzer, entered by Evaline Johnson on 16.05.2012

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Malacostraca
 Decapoda - Ocypodidae
Ocypode italica n. sp.
Ocypode italica n. sp. Garassino et al. 2010 ghost crab