title: New Early Cenozoic ghost shrimps (Decapoda, Axiidea, Callianassidae) from Pakistan and their palaeobiogeographic implications.
abstract: A new set of Paleocene and Eocene decapod crustaceans is described from the Kirthar Range of Pakistan. Two new ghost shrimps (Crustacea, Decapoda, Callianassidae) are described:Neocallichirus khadroensisHyžný & Charbonnier, n. sp. from the Paleocene (Danian, Khadro Formation) of Gawar Band, Ranikot District, andNeocallichirus lakhraensisHyžný & Charbonnier, n. sp. from the Early Eocene (Ypresian, Lakhra Formation) of Rbod Nala, Jhirak District. Both new species exhibit chelipeds which are morphologically surprisingly close to extantNeocallichirus karumba(Poore & Griffin, 1979) from the Indo-West Pacific. A group of species sharing this same cheliped morphology is provisionally called the "karumbagroup" based onNeocallichirus karumba, best documented species. The "karumbagroup" encompasses seven fossil species: the two new Pakistani species,Neocallichirus tuberculatus(LőrentheyinLőrenthey & Beurlen, 1929) n. comb. from the Eocene of Hungary,Neocallichirus borensisBeschin, De Angeli, Checchi & Mietto, 2006 from the Eocene of Italy,Neocallichirus birmanicus(Noetling, 1901) n. comb. from the Miocene of Myanmar,Neocallichirus dijki(Martin, 1883) from the Miocene of Java and Philippines, and the subfossilNeocallichirus maximus(A. Milne-Edwards, 1870) from Thailand. Based upon the extant and fossil occurrences, it is difficult to reconstruct migration pattern of the "karumbagroup". For now, it can be concluded, that at the genus level, a relative homogeneity of the ghost shrimps is observed between the Eastern and the Western Tethyan regions, as already suggested by Merleet al.(2014) for the assemblage of volutid gastropods from the Lakhra Formation.
authors.affiliation: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna (Austria) and Department of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava (Slovakia).
authors.forename: Matúš
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hyžný
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, CR2P UMR 7207 (MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Département Histoire de la Terre case postale 38, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France).
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Charbonnier
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, CR2P UMR 7207 (MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Département Histoire de la Terre case postale 38, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France).
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Merle
authors.affiliation: Centre for Pure and Applied Geology, University of Sindh, Allama I.I. Kazi Campus, Jamshoro 76080 (Pakistan).
authors.forename: Rafique Ahmed
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lashari
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, CR2P UMR 7207 (MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Département Histoire de la Terre case postale 38, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France).
authors.forename: Annachiara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bartolini
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, CR2P UMR 7207 (MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Département Histoire de la Terre case postale 38, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France).
authors.forename: Grégoire
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mètais
keywords: Axiidea; Callianassidae; Cenozoic; Crustacea; Decapoda; Kirthar Range; Pakistan; Ranikot Group; Sindh; new combinations; new species; palaeobiogeography