Abstract

The Urumaco Formation is well known for being fossiliferous, including both vertebrate and invertebrate assemblages. Despite extensive field work over the past years the decapod fauna from the Urumaco Formation still remains poorly known. In the present work we report for the first time the presence of the extinct portunid crab, Necronectes proavitus Rathbun from Venezuela, based on a well-preserved cast of the carapace recovered from the late Miocene Urumaco Formation. This record significantly contributes to a better understanding of both the biochronology and biogeography of Necronectes in the Caribbean region. N. proavitus is now known from the early to late Miocene of Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Panama, Venezuela and Brazil.