The non-marine Crustacea of Antarctica and the Islands of the Southern Ocean: biodiversity and biogeography

A total of 101 verified species and eight ordinal taxa represent the non-marine Crustacea on Antarctica and the islands of the Southern Ocean. The largely terrestrial Isopoda and Amphipoda are confined to some sub-Antarctic and cool temperate islands while the predominantly freshwater Anostraca, Anomopoda, Copepoda (=Calanoida, Cyclopoida, Harpacticoida) and Ostracoda (Podocopida) occur throughout the region. Holocene sea-level rises fragmented freshwater and terrestrial species ranges on New Zealand, Auckland, Campbell, and possibly other South Pacific islands, leaving a legacy of vicariant taxa. Tertiary species probably survived Pleistocene glaciation in aquatic refugia on the New Zealand/South Pacific, Falkland, Crozet and Kerguelen archipelagoes, but there are no valid records of Tertiary Antarctic Crustacea. All 40 Continental and Maritime Antarctic freshwater records can be ascribed to the historic introduction of anthropogenic aliens, Holocene immigration of colonists, returning re-colonists and marine species 'marooned' in epishelf and other coastal lakes.     

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.     

The Polyplacophora (Mollusca) collected during the First International Marine Biodiversity Workshop for Rodrigues (western Indian Ocean), with the description of a new species

A total of seven species of Polyplacophora, namely Parachiton hylkiae mauricejayi Schwabe, 2002 Schwabe E 2002 A new subspecies of the genus Parachiton Thiele, 1909 Thiele J 1909 Revision des Systems der Chitonen. I. Teil Zoologica Stuttgart 22, 1–70, pls?1–6  <!--${googleScholarLinkReplacer: %00empty%00 book +Zoologica+Stuttgart+ author%3DJ+Thiele 1909 ++%0AThiele+++J+++++1909++++Revision+des+Systems+der+Chitonen.+I.+Teil++++Zoologica+Stuttgart+++++++22%2C+1%E2%80%9370%2C+pls%E2%80%891%E2%80%936+ %00empty%00 %00null%00}--> from the Indian Ocean Of Sea and Shore 24(4), 220–223  [Google Scholar], Callochiton deshayesi Thiele, 1909 Thiele J 1909 Revision des Systems der Chitonen. I. Teil Zoologica Stuttgart 22, 1–70, pls?1–6  [Google Scholar], Callistochiton barnardi Leloup, 1981, Lucilina indica (Leloup, 1981), Onithochiton maillardi (Deshayes, 1863 Deshayes G. P 1863 Catalogue des mollusques de l'Ile de la Réunion (Bourbon) in L. Maillard (ed.) Notes sur l'Ile de la Réunion (Paris: Dentu), pp.?1–144, pls?28–41  [Google Scholar]), Choneplax indica Odhner, 1919 Odhner N. H. J 1919 Contribution à la faune malacologique de Madagascar Arkiv för Zoologi 12(6), 1–52, pls?1–4  [Google Scholar] and Cryptoconchus oliveri n. sp., were collected during a survey of marine biodiversity at Rodrigues. For all the species taxonomically relevant characters are described, and for the first time are illustrated in detail using SEM photography. The taxonomic status of Lucilina indica (Leloup, 1981) is clarified, and it is rejected from the synonymy of Lucilina carnosa (Kaas, 1979 Kaas P 1979 The chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) of Mozambique Annales of the Natal Museum 23(3), 855–879  [Google Scholar]).