New Occurrences of Fossil Macrocheira (Brachyura, Inachidae) from the North Eastern Pacific

Resumen

New specimens of the fossil Macrocheira collected from Eocene to Miocene rocks of Canada and western United States increase

the fossil record of the Inachidae (MacLeay, 1838). Macrocheira is represented by only one extant species, M. kaempferi, endemic to

Japan and Taiwan. Two fossil species have previously been described from Washington State: M. longirostra (Schweitzer and Feld-
mann, 1999), from the Eocene Quimper Sandstone, and M. teglandi (Rathbun, 1926), from the Oligocene Makah Formation. Three

new species are reported: M. jayi n. sp. from the late Eocene to Oligocene Hesquiat Formation of Vancouver Island, British Columbia,

Canada; M. sullivani n. sp. from the late Eocene to early Oligocene Keasey Formation of Oregon State, U.S.A.; and M columbiaensis

n. sp. from the early to middle Miocene Astoria Formation of Washington State, U.S.A. Several Macrocheira species have also been

reported from the Miocene of Japan; however, their systematic position is tenuous and therefore they are referred to as Macrocheira

sp. aff. M. kaempferi. With the description of three new species of Macrocheira, the number of fossil species is increased to five and

the genus is now well established in the North Eastern Pacific from the Eocene to Miocene.