New species and records of Flabellifera from the Indian Ocean (Crustacea: Peracarida: Isopoda)

In this study of flabelliferan Isopoda from the Indian Ocean, 19 species are described as new, in 11 genera and two families: family Cirolanidae, Baharilana koloura, B. lira, Cirolana aldabrensis, C. mimulus, C. somalia, C. undata, Eurydice paxilli, and Metacirolana chemola; family Sphaeromatidae, Cassidinidea clarkae, Cymodoce fuscina, C. lirella, Dynamenella alveolata, D. remex, Heterodina (new genus), H. mccaini, Oxinasphaera brucei, O. furcata, O. tetrodon, Paracilicaea stauros, and Sphaeromopsis sulcifera. Diagnoses of the genera and species are provided, and keys to the Indian Ocean species of most of the genera are provided. The material comes primarily from Aldabra Atoll, the granitic Seychelles islands, Zanzibar Island, and Phuket in Thailand. A few miscellaneous samples from the South African Museum collections, and from the International Indian Ocean Expedition carried out in the mid‐1960s are included.     

The marine red algae of Rodrigues (Mauritius,Indian Ocean)

This paper reports on the red algae of Rodrigues, collected in the framework of the Shoals of Capricorn Programme (10 September to 5 October 2001). In total 68 species are reported, of which 65 represent new records for the island. Although most taxa represent rather common species, which are generally widespread in the Indian and western Pacific Ocean, some are of special interest to algal systematists and biogeographers. Renouxia antillana is reported for the first time for the Indian Ocean. The presence of Renouxia also constitutes the first record of the order Rhodogorgonales for the entire Indian Ocean. A few species have interesting distribution patterns. Halydictyon sp. is restricted in its distribution to South Africa, Mauritius and Australia. Despite these interesting records, the red algal flora of Rodrigues is most remarkable by the absence of several ‘ubiquitous' species.     

New species and records of Asellota from the Indian Ocean (Crustacea: Peracarida: Isopoda)

In this study of asellote Isopoda from the Indian Ocean, 29 species in 11 genera and seven families are recorded. Twenty-one species are described as new: family Gnathostenetroididae, Maresiella aldabrana ; family Janiridae, Carpias mossambica ; family Joeropsidae, Joeropsis algensis, J. arpedes, J. dimorpha, J. hamatilis, J. lentigo, J. pentagona, J. pleurion ; family Pleurocopidae, Pleurocope wilsoni ; family Pseudojaniridae, Pseudojanira meganesus ; family Santiidae, Santia spicata, S. urospinosa ; family Stenetriidae, Hansenium aldabrae, H. expansa, H. remocarpus ; Mizothenar serratum, Stenetrium assumentum, S. quinquedens, S. zanzibarica, Stenobermuda brucei. The first record of the family Pleurocopidae (Pleurocope wilsoni) and the genus Mizothenar (family Stenetriidae) from the Indian Ocean are included. Diagnoses of the genera and species are provided, and keys to the Indian Ocean species of most of the genera. The material comes primarily from Aldabra Atoll, the granitic Seychelles islands, Zanzibar Island, the Comoro Islands, and Phuket in Thailand. A few samples are from material of the International Indian Ocean Expedition carried out in the mid-1960s.     

A new species of amphipod of the genus Neomegamphopus (Crustacea,Amphipoda, Neomegamphopidae) from Rodrigues,Indian Ocean

A new species of Neomegamphopus Shoemaker is described from Rodrigues, Indian Ocean. The systematics of the Neomegamphopidae from the Indian Ocean is discussed and a key to the species from that ocean is provided.     

The marine green and brown algae of Rodrigues (Mauritius,Indian Ocean)

The marine benthic green and brown macroalgae of Rodrigues, collected during an expedition in October 2001, are documented and 18 of the 60 taxa of Chlorophyta (53 species) and 18 species of Phaeophyceae are illustrated. Fifty taxa of green and 12 taxa of brown algae are added to the existing species list of the island. Turf algae and smaller epiphytic species are not or are only sporadically included in this study. All records are listed with bibliographic, biogeographic, taxonomic and nomenclatural comments. Infrageneric identification keys are included. The new combination Caulerpa mexicana var. exposita is proposed and the discovery of a new Udotea species is mentioned. The algal flora of Rodrigues is of a typical Indian Ocean composition but appears to be relatively poor when compared to the nearby island of Mauritius.     

New species and records of anthuridean isopod crustaceans from the Indian Ocean

Twenty four new species of anthuridean isopods are described from a variety of localities in the Indian Ocean, including the granitic Seychelles, Aldabra Atoll, Phuket Island, the Persian Gulf and Zanzibar Island: Family Antheluridae, Anthomuda quadrilineata; Family Anthuridae, Amakusanthura cosmoledo, Apanthuroides aldabrae, Apanthuroides calculosa, Eisothistos andamanensis, Eisothistos corallina, Heptanthura phuket, Malacanthura arabica, Mesanthura quadrata, Panathura indica, Pendanthura picardi, Pendanthura seminigra, Pendanthura siamensis, Quantanthura andamanensis; Family Hyssuridae, Neohyssura gladia, Xenanthura victoriae; Family Paranthuridae, Accalathura hastata, Accalathura phuketensis, Accalathura wardae, Leptanthura calcis, Leptanthura maheensis, Paranthura algophila, Paranthura seychellensis, Paranthura urodentata. Of the 15 genera represented, all except two were previously known from the Indian Ocean; Heptanthura and Pendanthura are recorded from the Indian Ocean for the first time. Most of the genera have wide distributions through the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, while the species tend to be endemic to limited island or coastal regions. The 15 genera are diagnosed and keys or comparative tables to the Indian Ocean species are provided.     

Ascidians collected during the International Indian Ocean Expedition

Material collected in 1963 and 1964 by the International Indian Ocean Expedition includes ascidians from areas where the fauna is well-known such as the Mozambique Channel and from the relatively unknown southern Arabian Sea. Of the 29 species identified six are described as new to science, including one from a new genus of the family Polyclinidae.     

The genus Cotylopus (Teleostei: Gobioidei) endemic to the rivers of islands of the Indian Ocean with description of a new species from Mayotte (Comoros)

Cotylopus rubripinnis, new species, is described on the basis of nine specimens collected from the Island of Mayotte (Comoros), Indian Ocean. Cotylopus rubripinnis differs from the only other known species in the genus (C. acutipinnis Guichenot, 1863) in usually having fewer scales in lateral (LS), transverse back (TRB), transverse forward (TRF), and zigzag series (ZZ), and in having pectoral, dorsal and caudal fins reddish. The genus was previously only known from the Mascarene Islands (Réunion and Mauritius). The discovery of a second species for that rare and endemic genus 1400?km farther to the north‐west in the Indian Ocean is discussed.     

Biodiversity and biogeography of non-marine Mollusca on the islands of the Southern Ocean

There are no terrestrial and freshwater molluscs associated with Continental nor Maritime Antarctica. The malacofaunas of the cool-temperate and sub-Antarctic islands of the Southern Ocean are extremely depauperate, comprising a mere 68 site-records of 51 species from 27 genera in 13 families. The South Atlantic records are confined to the Falkland Islands, which harbour nine species (one bivalve, five pond snails and three terrestrial aliens), and South Georgia, where there is one Notodiscus sp. (Charopidae). The fauna of the South Indian Ocean islands of Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen and Heard, comprises two alien slugs and endemic Notodiscus hookeri (Charopidae). The majority of species occur on the South Pacific Ocean Islands of Macquarie, Campbell, Auckland, Snares, Antipodes, Bounty and Chatham to the south and east of New Zealand. The Chatham fauna is dissimilar to that on the other South Pacific Islands, though both represent vicariant remnants of common South Pacific Is./New Zealand Athoracophoridae, Charopidae and Punctidae. There is, other than the broad South Indian Ocean distribution of Notodiscus hookeri, little evidence of Holocene dispersal and colonization. Indeed the Southern Ocean is an effective barrier and the different regional (South Atlantic/Indian/Pacific) faunas are principally vicariant and derived from local survivors of Pleistocene glaciation.     

Parasitic copepods of Carcharhinidae and Sphyridae (Elasmobranchia) from the Atlantic Ocean

Seventy-four sharks of the families Carcharhinidae and Sphyridae, mainly from the central Atlantic Ocean, were examined. Fourteen species of Copepoda were found on them. Prionace glauca and Sphyrna zygaena are new hosts for the copepod Pandarus floridanus. Kroyeria carchariaeglauci is reported from the nasal cavities of Prionace glauca for the first time.     

Biogeography of spiders (Araneae: Arachnida) on the islands of the Southern Ocean

The araneofauna of the extreme Southern Hemisphere is highly impoverished and disharmonic. Four dead anthropogenic immigrant spiders have been collected from Antarctica while only 115 verified species from 26 families are reported on the islands of the Southern Ocean. Cluster analysis of the verified Southern Ocean species distribution data identifies a weak, but distinct, Neotropical/South Atlantic association together with robust South Indian and South Pacific biogeographic clusters. These groupings, largely attributed to vicariance and/or endemism, contain little evidence of post-Pleistocene dispersal. Indeed the 14 records of anthropogenic origin suggest that the pace of recent human-mediated introduction has been at least 30 times more rapid than that of Holocene natural dispersal.     

Calanoides natalis Brady, 1914 (Copepoda: Calanoida: Calanidae): identity and distribution in relation to coastal oceanography of the eastern Atlantic and western Indian Oceans

Until recently, Calanoides carinatus s.l. was assumed to be very widespread in the upwelling systems of the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans. Molecular data, reported here, show that Calanoides from the eastern Atlantic and Arabian Sea are one species and distinct from C. carinatus s.s. The name Calanoides natalis Brady, 1914 is available for this species, which is fully re-described. The illustration by Brady of the male fifth leg and the currently reported genetic data lead us to conclude that C. natalis is distributed from the Bay of Biscay southwards along the eastern Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope, and northwards along the western boundary of the Indian Ocean as far as the Arabian Sea. A by-product of this study is the recognition that Calanoides macrocarinatus is a junior synonym of Calanoides brevicornis. Females of C. natalis are easy to distinguish morphologically from C. carinatus s.s. but are more similar to C. brevicornis, apart from size differences. From physical oceanographic evidence we conclude that the Indian Ocean is currently the upstream part of the distribution of C. natalis. Calanoides philippinensis is known to extend into the eastern Indian Ocean at tropical latitudes. It is not known if it is C. philippinensis that has been recorded along the western coast of Australia. An apparently undescribed species of Calanoides occurs on the eastern Australian coast.     

New species of Lucicutia and taxonomic status of L. grandis (Copepoda,Calanoida, Lucicutiidae)

Calanoid copepod specimens attributable to Lucicutia grandis (Giesbrecht, ), L. bradyana Cleve, , L. wolfendeni Sewell, , and L. rara Hulsemann, ) were studied from antarctic and subantarctic waters collected during RV Eltanin crusies 4–11 and 23, and RV Ob cruises 1 and 3. In addition, identified specimens from the Pacific and Indian Oceans deposited in the systematic collections of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC, USA) and the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (St Petersburg) were also examined. Both sexes of a new species are described from the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, L. hulsemannae. Lucicutia hulsemannae is distinguished from L. grandis, L. bradyana and L. wolfendeni by the morphology of the rostrum, genital complex, including plug, and leg 5 of both sexes. Lucicutia bradyana is not found outside the Southern Hemisphere but L. grandis is recorded from the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, tropical Indian Ocean, as well as its type locality in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Lucicutia wolfendeni is found in all oceans except the Arctic Ocean. The status of L. bradyana, previously rejected as a separate species by Hulsemann (), is restored. Lucitutia rara is considered a junior synonym of L. bradyana.     

Xanthocalanus gracilis and Tharybis magna (Copepoda: Calanoida) rediscovered from the Antarctic Ocean with baited traps

Two species of calanoid copepods, Xanthocalanus gracilis Wolfenden, 1911 (Phaennidae) and Tharybis magna Bradford, 1983 (Tharybidae) collected with baited traps from the Antarctic Ocean are redescribed including some scanning electron microscopic observations. The morphological features and ecological data of these species which both bear maxillary sensory setae strongly suggest that they are detritivores and/or scavengers.     

Sipuncula from Hainan Island (China)

Sipunculans from shallow depths ranging from 0 to 44 m, collected by two Chinese-German expeditions to Hainan Island (China) during the years 1990 and 1992, are recorded. Seventeen species in eight genera and five families are recognized from the total 271 individuals collected. An analysis of the sipunculan literature has shown that 10 of these species are new records for Hainan. Among them, Phascolosoma (Phascolosoma) meteori (Hérubel, 1904) also represents the first record for the Pacific Ocean.     

Two new species of the commensal shrimp genus Periclimenaeus Borradaile, 1915, (Decapoda,Palaemonidae) from the Maldive Islands

Two new species of the commensal shrimp genus Periclimenaeus Borradaile, found in the waters of the Maldive Islands, Indian Ocean, are described and illustrated. P. tchesunovi sp. nov. is related to P. rastrifer Bruce. The former may be distinguished by its deeper rostrum, with dentition 6/1, the presence of supraorbital tubercles, and broad, spatulate fingers on the first pereiopods. P. zarenkovi sp. nov. closely resembles P. diplosomatis Bruce in the presence of minute denticulations on the dactylar cutting edge of the major second pereiopod, but differs from it by a deeper rostrum with 5 dorsal teeth, more robust chelae of the second pereiopods, and small dorsal telson spines.     

Description of a new species of Demania Laurie, 1906 (Crustacea,Decapoda, Brachyura,Xanthidae) from the Bay of Bengal,Indian Ocean

A new species of xanthid crab, Demania bangladeshensis sp. nov., is described from the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean. Demania bangladeshensis appears to be most closely related to Demania toxica Garth, 1971, a poisonous species from the Philippines, but can easily be separated by the differently sculptured carapace, legs and chelipeds.