A distinctive shallow marine crustacean fauna from the early Pleistocene of Poggi Gialli (Tuscany, central Italy): taxonomic inferences and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction

A rich crustacean fauna from the early Pleistocene of Poggi Gialli quarries (Sinalunga, Tuscany, central Italy) includes thalassinoid, nephropid, anomuran, and brachyuran decapods with one new genus and five new species. Moreover, a new species of cirolanid isopods is also reported. The decapod assemblage is unique for the presence of several genera and for a great number of different leucosiid species not comparable with other communities previously reported from the Pleistocene of Tuscany and from the Mediterranean basin. Eurynome italica n. sp. is the first fossil species for the extant genus, and Ommatocarcinus occidentalis n. sp. is the sole fossil record for the extant genus out of the restricted Indo-West Pacific area. Sedimentological and stratigraphic profiles, micro- and macrofossils taxonomic inferences of the associated fauna are discussed, and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Poggi Gialli area is proposed, in order to place the crustacean assemblage in a palaeoecological context. Both sedimentological features and micro - and macrofossil record clearly point to a marine transitional environment, grading from an infra-circalittoral to a shallow nearshore marine environment repeatedly influenced by the presence of a river mouth