Decapod assemblage from the late Miocene (early-middle Messinian) of the Romagna Apennines nearby Brisighella, Emilia-Romagna (N Italy)

An assemblage of axiidean and brachyuran decapods is reported from the late Miocene pre-evaporitic (early-middle Messinian) limestone of Cò di Sasso, nearby Brisighella (Ravenna, Emilia- Romagna), located in Romagna Apennines (NE Italy). Except Monodaeus bortolottii Delle Cave, 1988 (Xanthidae MacLeay, 1838), which is reported here for the first time in Miocene, all the other specimens have been assigned to species previously known in the Italian Miocene (Messinian s.l.), but never reported in this area. The report of Galathea cf. G. weinfurteri Bachmayer, 1950 (Galatheidae Samouelle, 1819) and Medorippe ampla Garassino, De Angeli, Gallo and Pasini, 2004 (Dorippidae MacLeay, 1838) enlarges the stratigraphic range of these Miocene species. This report enlarges our limited knowledge on the composition and distribution of the axiidean, anomuran, and brachyuran decapods during the early-middle Messinian before the evaporitic event in the Mediterranean Basin.