Gastrointestinal helminth communities of two gekkonid lizard species,Nactus multicarinatus and Nactus pelagicus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from the Republic of Vanuatu,Oceania

Gastrointestinal helminth communities of two gekkonid species, Nactus multicarinatus and Nactus pelagicus, from the Vanuatu Archipelago were examined. Both helminth communities were depauperate: N. multicarinatus harboured one species of Digenea, Mesocoelium monas, one species of Cestoda, Oochoristica javaensis, four species of Nematoda, Hedruris hanleyae, Parapharyngodon maplestoni, Physocephalus sp. (larvae in cysts), Filarioidea gen. sp. (juvenile); N. pelagicus harboured one species of Cestoda, O. javaensis, four species of Nematoda, H. hanleyae, Falcaustra tannaensis, P. maplestoni, Physocephalus sp. (larvae in cysts). In each helminth community P. maplestoni represented a core species and H. hanleyae was a secondary species. It is postulated that the helminth fauna infecting lizards of the Vanuatu Archipelago originated in Australia and Papua New Guinea and reached the archipelago by rafting; their establishment in Vanuatu was fortuitous.     

New records of Alvinocarididae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea) from the southwestern Pacific hydrothermal vents,with descriptions of one new genus and three new species

Three new species of the caridean family Alvinocarididae are described from hydrothermal vents in the Southwest Pacific, namely, Chorocaris parva sp. nov. (Manus Basin, 1305–1684 m), Chorocaris variabilis sp. nov. (Manus and North Fiji basins and Vanuatu, 1305–2480 m) and Manuscaris acuminatus gen. et sp. nov. (Manus Basin, 1310 m). Morphological affinities of these three species are discussed. Molecular genetic analysis using partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene supports the recognition of the two new species assigned to Chorocaris Martin and Hessler, 1990. The generic diagnosis of Chorocaris is slightly emended to accommodate the two new species. Opaepele susannae Komai, Gierre and Segonzac, 2007 is transferred to Chorocaris. Alvinocaris komai Zelnio and Hourdez, 2009, originally described from the Lau Basin, is newly recorded from the North Fiji Basin and Vanuatu (Nifonea vent field), at depths of 1740–2750 m.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4BFC8C31-C006-4738-BED7-B13D3296A7CA