Justitia Holthuis, 1946 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Palinuridea) from the Middle Eocene of Verona and Vicenza (northern Italy)

Recently, Beschin et al. (2001) have described two specimens of palinurids, discovered at Chiampo (“Albanello” quarry, Vicenza, northern Italy). Preserved three dimensionally, these were collected from limestones of Lutetian (middle Eocene) age. The peculiar ornament of the dorsal carapace surface, consisting of imbricate scales in the cephalic region and parallel grooves in the branchial and cardiac regions, has allowed these to be ascribed to Justitia Holthuis, 1946, as a new species (J. vicetina Beschin et al., 2001), in the infraorder Palinuridea Latreille, 1802. This represents the first fossil record of this genus.