THE PROBLEMATIC PARALBUNEA HU AND TAO, 1996: HOMONYMY, GENERIC NOM. NOV., AND CORRECT TAXONOMIC PLACEMENT

Abstract

The fossil genus Paralbunea Hu and Tao, described as an anomuran albuneid, is a junior homonym of Paralbunea Serene and a possible synonym of either the brachyuran raninid Ranilia H. Milne Edwards, 1837, or Cosmonotus Adams and White, 1848. The type series of P. taipeiensis Hu and Tao is composed of at least two species belonging to two raninid genera and appears (in part) assignable to the genus Ranilia and (in part) to Cosmonotus grayi Adams and White, 1848. However, due to both limited availability and poor quality of the holotype of Paralbunea taipeiensis, and destruction of the paratypes, this taxon cannot be unequivocally synonymized with any particular raninid taxon and a new name is proposed to replace Hu and Tao's preoccupied generic name. Caution is urged when describing purported albuneid fossils, due to strong convergence with raninid crabs, which are far more common in the fossil record.