Metacarcinus

Metacarcinus is a genus of crabs formerly included in the genus Cancer. It includes nine exclusively fossil species and five extant species, of which four are also known from the fossil record. A molecular study using the cytochrome oxidase I gene does not support the monophyly of this genus.

Metacarcinus

The original uploader was Stemonitis at English Wikipedia . · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CancrinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Decapoda
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Cancridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Malacostraca
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Malacostraca

Time the record covers

At least 40 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 69 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 69 occurrencesMiocene — about 14 of 69 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 11 of 69 occurrencesPleistocene — about 43 of 69 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 38 occurrences41.03 Mya129 ka49 Mya0 Mya

69 occurrences of Metacarcinus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

69 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

25 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.78°N, 118.30°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.97°N, 118.43°WPalos Verdes Sand — 32.70°N, 117.19°WSan Pedro — 32.67°N, 117.14°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.29°WEtchegoin — 36.02°N, 120.04°WEtchegoin — 36.42°N, 120.96°WElk River — 42.82°N, 124.54°WGreta — 43.05°S, 173.07°EGreta — 43.05°S, 173.07°EBear Lake — 55.99°N, 160.01°WSan Pedro Sand — 33.74°N, 118.28°WSan Pedro Sand — 34.30°N, 118.99°WSan Joaquin — 36.03°N, 120.04°WMt. Brown — 43.10°S, 172.90°EMt. Brown — 43.13°S, 172.83°EClallam — 48.26°N, 124.23°WMerced — 37.69°N, 122.50°WMerced — 37.64°N, 122.45°WMoonstone Beach — 41.03°N, 124.11°WRound Mountain Silt — 35.43°N, 118.81°WEstancia 25 de Mayo — 50.51°S, 72.25°WPico — 33.84°N, 117.85°WLillo — 51.29°N, 4.25°ETimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WLomita Marl — 33.75°N, 118.30°WEmpire — 43.35°N, 124.31°WBriones — 37.99°N, 122.30°WSaugus — 34.38°N, 119.06°WCentinela — 50.51°S, 72.24°WSan Diego — 32.54°N, 117.11°WOlcese — 35.45°N, 118.87°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Metacarcinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metacarcinus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Metacarcinus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

980 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 54 sites for Metacarcinus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

14 references

Each of the 69 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 2 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Metacarcinus

Credit
The original uploader was Stemonitis at English Wikipedia .
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
mamlambo
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCancrinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Milne Edwards 1862)