Museum Ranilia Fossil Crab

Description: This is the last of four specimens of this amazingly well preserved species that I have available for purchase. It comes from one of the world’ foremost decapod collections. To begin, this is not a composite. It is situated exactly where it died; painstakingly curated from the sandy matrix which entombed it. Notice the unusual look of this visually stunning genus. The full carapace, both claws, mouthparts, and many of the legs are present.

Raninidae is a family of unusual crabs, taken by most scientists to be quite primitive. These animals closely resemble the (unrelated) mole crabs, due to parallel evolution or evolutionary relay. In both groups, the claws are modified into tools for digging, and the body is a rounded shape that is easy to bury in sand. Unlike most other true crabs, the abdomens of raninids are not curled under the cephalothorax.

Please access this on-line professional paper for more information concerning this Ranilia species.
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2003SC/finalprogram/abstract_50074.htm

In 2008 and 2009 I had the unique privilege of purchasing two large lots from a most important collection. The collector had painstakingly accumulated a superb group of decapods, echinoderms and other fossils during a twenty-year period. The vast majority of the specimens came from self-collecting, academic resources, trading, and selected purchases. Very few of fossils came from the normal channels of trade shows and commercial internet resources. Any specimen presented under this introductory paragraph will generally be a superior collector grade fossil; be it of rarity, preservation, or, both.