Taxonomy of the genus Tantunema Siddiqi, 1982 (Dorylaimida: Tylencholaimidae) with description of one new and two known species

One new and two known species of the genus Tantunema Siddiqi, 1982 are described and illustrated. Tantunema indicum sp. nov. is characterized by having a small body (length 0.32–0.45 mm); lip region cap-like, set off by slight constriction; odontostyle 6–7 µm and odontophore 8–10 µm long; pharyngeal expansion gradual, expanded part occupying about 35–41% of total neck length, lumen of posterior expanded part widened and thickened; female genital system mono-opisthodelphic, anterior genital branch absent; tail short, hemispheroid, 0.8–1.1 anal body diameter long. Tantunema pakistanense (Timm, 1964) comb. nov. (=Tylencholaimus pakistanensis Timm, 1964) and Tantunema intermedium (Peña-Santiago and Coomans, 1996) Andrássy, 2009 are redescribed. A diagnostic compendium and key to species of the genus is also provided.     

Two new species of terrestrial Isopoda (Crustacea,Oniscidea) from Ascension Island

A collection of eight species of terrestrial isopods from lava and cave sites on Ascension Island is described. Two species, Niambia longiantennata (Platyarthridae) and Elumoides coecus (Eubelidae), are described as new. Atlantoscia alceui Ferrara and Taiti (Philosciidae) is considered to be a junior synonym of A. floridana (Van Name) and the genus Ocelloscia Schultz and Johnson of Atlantoscia Ferrara and Taiti. At present the oniscidean fauna known from Ascension Island consists of 13 species.     

Taxonomy and genetic variation in the Australian lizards of the genus Pseudemoia (Scincidae: Lygosominae)

This study reviews the taxonomy of the southern Australian scincid lizards previously referred to Leiolopisma entrecasteauxii (Duméril and Bibron, 1839) and L. baudini Greer, 1982; here placed along with L. spenceri and the recently described L. rawlinsoni in the genus Pseudemoia. Electrophoretic, karyotypic and morphological data show that populations assigned to P. entrecasteauxii belong to three species. The name Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii is restricted here to a morphologically variable species which occurs in woodlands, forests and heathlands from the Blue Mountains, NSW, through the southeastern mainland, Bass Strait islands and Tasmania, to the islands of Spencer Gulf, SA. Populations designated as L. entrecasteauxii Form B by recent authors are mostly referrable to P. entrecasteauxii (s.s.). Pseudemoia pagenstecheri (Lindholm, 1901) is resurrected to apply to strongly striped populations disjunctly distributed in open grassland habitats from Tasmania, south-central Victoria, the southeast Australian highlands, Blue Mountains and New England Tableland. This species largely encompasses those populations referred to by several workers as L. entrecasteauxii Form A. A neotype for Lygosoma (Liolepisma) pagenstecheri is designated. A new species, P. cryodroma, is restricted to alpine and subalpine habitats on the high plains of Victoria. Pseudemoia cryodroma may have had a hybrid origin from P. entrecasteauxii and P. pagenstecheri. Pseudemoia baudini, hitherto known only from the unique holotype, is redescribed. This species extends eastward along the coast of the Great Australian Bight as far as the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. A key to the species of Pseudemoia is provided.     

A new species of Didogobius (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the Adriatic Sea

Didogobius schlieweni sp. nov. is described from a single specimen collected among pebbles in shallow water at Unije island, near Cres, in the northern Adriatic Sea. The holotype has vivid dark and pale patterning, and is assigned to Didogobius on the basis of head neuromast patterns and meristic features. Diagnostic values of the latter are D2 I/12, A I/11, P 17, and LL 55–56. A key to species of the Chromogobius and Didogobius complex is provided.     

A new genus and species of Conchaspididae (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) from Florida,remarkable in lacking legs

A new genus of Conchaspididae, Asceloconchaspis gen. nov., is described for Asceloconchaspis milleri sp. nov., a new species from Florida, USA. Unlike other conchaspidids, the adult female and second instar of the genus lack legs. The presence of legs is one of the important, distinguishing characters at present separating the Conchaspididae from the Diaspididae. However, the new genus also possesses well-developed antennae and has multilocular disc pores on the abdomen in the adult female; these distinctly conchaspidid characters are never found in the Diaspididae. Asceloconchaspis is closely related to Fagisuga Lindinger, a monotypic genus with primitive characters described from South America on Nothofagus. A key to the four known genera of Conchaspididae is provided, and the morphology and distribution of the Conchaspididae are discussed.     

A revision of Bovichtus Cuvier, 1831 (Pisces: Bovichthyidae) from Australasia,with description of a new deepwater species from the New Zealand Subantarctic

The genus Bovichtus includes four species from the Australasian region, viz. B. variegatus Richardson, B. psychrolutes Günther, B. angustifrons Regan, and B. oculus n. sp. B. decipiens Regan and Aurion effulgens Waite are junior synonyms of B. variegatus and B. psychrolutes respectively. B. oculus, described from a specimen taken in 847–902 m on the Campbell Plateau in the New Zealand Subantarctic, is the first known deep water Bovichtus species. It differs from all congeners in having a very large eye (horizontal diameter <9·0 times in SL) and, alone with B. psychrolutes, has a patch of ctenoid scales on the body behind the pectoral fin base.     

A key to Australasian and Oriental Woodiphora (Diptera: Phoridae), affinities of the genus and description of new species

The taxonomic value of the notopleural cleft in Phoridae is highlighted. A cladogram relating Gymnophora and Woodiphora to Megaselia is presented. Recognition of the genus Woodiphora is clarified, and the Old World species of Haplophleba transferred to Woodiphora. The evolution of the female abdominal sternite 9 is discussed. The tribe Megaseliini is proposed. A key to the Australasian and Oriental species of Woodiphora is provided. Twenty new species are described and two new synonyms proposed.     

Membraniporoidea,Microporoidea and Cellarioidea (bryozoa,Cheilostomata) collected by Discovery Investigations

Thirty eight species of anascan Cheilostomata are described from the collections of Discovery Investigations, and other British antarctic expeditions. Ten new species are described, including Stomhypselosaria watersi introduced for Cellaria dubia (Busk) sensu Waters (1904). Two new genera are introduced, and Swanomia nom. nov. is proposed for Mawsonia Livingstone 1928, non Woodward 1907.     

New ascothoracid crustacean endoparasites of Scleractinia

The ascothoracid crustacean genus Petrarca, endoparasites of scleractinian corals, is reviewed and revised. Petrarca bathyactidis, the type-species, is partly redescribed. The range of P. okadai is extended to East Africa. Three new species of Petrarca are described: P. indica in Flabellum deludens from the Indian Ocean near Ceylon; P. morula from Turbinaria sp. in the Banda Sea; P. azorica in Enallopsammia rostrata from the North Atlantic. Zibrowia auriculata gen. et sp. nov. infests Balanophyllia carinata off East Africa, and the same species appears to live in Tubastraea micranthus off East Africa and Dendrophyllia sp. at Réunion and in the Comoros. Unlike other ascothoracids, eggs and larvae are not brooded within the carapace valves, though they may be attached to them externally. Nauplii of P. okadai and Z. auriculata are described; they are generalized with familially distinct features. Adults of both genera have an overall neotenic appearance. They always occur in galls in groups of two or more, suggesting simultaneous infestation. Ahermatypic corals or their close hermatypic relatives seem to be preferred hosts, and Petrarca has a wider geographic and depth range than confamilial genera.     

A new species of a misophrioid copepod from the near-bottom waters off Brazil

The order Misophrioida is recorded for the first time in Brazilian waters and the new species Archimisophria squamosa, with some important plesiomorphic features, is described.