Thoe Bell, 1836

Thoe Bell, 1836 View in CoL

Thoe Bell, 1836a: 170 View in CoL [Type species: Thoe erosa Bell, 1836 View in CoL , by monotypy, gender feminine].

Platypes Lockington, 1877a: 41 View in CoL [Type species: Platypes edentata Lockington, 1877a View in CoL , accepted as Thoe erosa View in CoL , by monotypy, gender feminine].

Diagnosis. See Windsor and Felder (2014: 167).

Included species. Thoe aspera Rathbun,1901 (WA), Thoe erosa Bell, 1836 (EP), Thoe puella Stimpson,1860 (WA), Thoe asperoides † Collins and Todd, 2005 , Thoe vanuaensis † Rathbun, 1945 .

Remarks. Windsor and Felder (2014:167) indicated the authority of the genus Thoe to Chun (1879), however the authors probably referred, by mistake, to the homonymous Ctenophora genus Thoe Chun, 1879 .According to the ICZN (1999, art. 23), applying the principle of priority, Thoe Bell, 1836 should be maintained and a new name for the Ctenophora genus should be designated.

Thoe vanuaensis † from the Pliocene of Vanua Mbalavu, Fiji, was described from a fragment of the left cheliped, including the partially preserved fixed and movable fingers. The type material is deposited in the USNM Department of Paleobiology Collections (USNM MO 498434). Although clearly a majoid cheliped, the generic placement of this species seems to not be supported by its morphology. The clear gap between fingers, the few small tubercles on the fixed finger, and the absence of tubercles or teeth on the dactyl are characteristics of several groups among the majoid families. Thoe vanuaensis † has sparse tubercles on the upper face of the fixed finger, differing from the recent species of Thoe that have the propodi surface without any tubercles or spines. It is important to note that this species is from Fiji, considering that Thoe recent species are all endemic to the Americas, its assignment to this genus is doubtful and a detailed examination of this material is necessary to determine its placement in another genus.

The other fossil species, Thoe asperoides † from the Late Miocene of Panama, on the other hand,resembles the recent species T. aspera . The holotype (NMB F1681) is a fragment of the carapace that resembles T. aspera in overall carapace shape and the regions are well delimited with numerous tubercles. This species has another attributed record, a fixed finger fragment, from the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene of Panama (NMB F1682) (Collins and Todd, 2005).