Cirripedes of the superorder Acrothoracica are normally found as epizoic borings on marine calcareous substrates. Armatoglyptes taiwanus (Utinomi, 1950) is a lithoglyptid acrothoracican barnacle reported from different parts of the Indo-Pacific. Recent studies have demonstrated phylogenetic breaks between the Indian and Pacific Oceans populations in widespread Indo-Pacific marine organisms due to isolation events during the Pleistocene glaciations. It is possible that A. taiwanus represents a cryptic species complex in the Indo-Pacific, which the previous studies have failed to identify from morphology alone. In the present study, we analyzed the morphology and the sequence divergence of the 12S rDNA of A. taiwanus from the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan and the Philippines in the Pacific, and Phuket Island (Thailand) and the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, to test whether A. taiwanus is a cryptic species across its geographical range. The results showed that A. taiwanus has a homogeneous population structure in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Phuket Island (sequence divergence < 1%). Specimens from the Mozambique Channel, although morphologically similar to A. taiwanus, have a greater sequence divergence of 9.4% from A. taiwanus in the Pacific, and thus appeared to represent a new species, described herein as Armatoglyptes flexuosus n. sp. Although both species are morphologically similar, A. flexuosus n. sp. has more strongly bent/recurved posterior processes of the opercular bars and feebler armament of the orificial knob than does A. taiwanus from Taiwan (type locality). Phylogenetic analysis showed that populations of A. flexuosus n. sp. from the Mozambique Channel and A. taiwanus from the Pacific region are indeed closely related. Populations of their common ancestor may have become isolated and underwent speciation during the Pleistocene glaciations.

Fourteen species of Muricidae referable to the (sub)genera Promurex Ponder & Vokes, 1988, Pygmaepterys Vokes, 1978, Murexsul Iredale, 1915, Pazinotus Vokes, 1970, Prototyphis Ponder, 1972, Ponderia Houart, 1986, Gemixystus Iredale, 1929, Ieptotrophon Houart, 1995 and Scabrotrophon McLean, 1996 are reported from New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Taiwan, to depths down to 1750 m. Five new species are described: Favartia (Pygmaepterys) lifouensis n. sp. from New Caledonia with range extension to the Solomon Islands, Pazinotus chionodes n. sp. and Gemixystus calcareus n. sp. from New Caledonia, Leptotrophon wareni n. sp. from the Solomon Islands and Favartia (Pygmaepterys) circinata n. sp. from Taiwan.

This paper deals with the 185 new species-group taxa that P. J. M. Macquart described in the dipteran families Fanniidae, Anrfiomyiidae and Muscidae, together with a further 5 species-group taxa that belong to other families, 9 replacement names that he proposed, and 1 nomen nudum. Notes are provided on the Diptera collections on which Macquart worked. In the Fanniidae, there are 8 species (and 1 replacement name), in Anthomyiidae, 33 species (and 4 replacement names), and in Muscidae, 144 species (and 4 replacement names). 85 lectotypes are newly designated in order to fix the identity of the names. The following new synonyms are proposed: in Anthomyiidae: Chortophila angusta Macquart, 1835 = Botanophila striolata (Fallén, 1824); Pegomyia basilaris Macquart, 1835 = Pegomya solennis (Meigen, 1826); Anthomyia brunnipennis Macquart, 1835, and Anthomyia fuscipennis Macquart, 1835 = Pegoplata aestiva (Meigen, 1826); Hylemyia caesia Macquart, 1835 = Anthomyia liturata (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830); Chortophila caesia Macquart, 1835, and Anthomyia fulviceps Macquart, 1835 = Delia platura (Meigen, 1826); Chortophila cuprea Macquart, 1835, and Nerina cinerea Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 = Adia cinerella (Fallén, 1825); Chortophila geniculata Macquart, 1835 = Emmesomyia grisea (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830); Hydrophoria liturata Macquart, 1835 = Zaphne ambigua (Fallén, 1823); Pegomyia nigrifrons Macquart, 1835 = Pegomya rufina (Fallén, 1825); Hylemyia nitida Macquart, 1835 = Chirosia flavipennis (Fallén, 1823); Anthomyia tibialis Macquart, 1835 = Pegomya conformis (Fallén, 1825); Anthomyia vicina Macquart, 1835 = Botanophila fugax (Meigen, 1826). In Muscidae: Caenosia basilaris Macquart, 1835 = Caenosia testacea (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830); Lucilia brevigaster Macquart, 1835 = Neomyia timorensis (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830); Pyrellia desjardinsii Macquart, 1843 = Neomyia viridifrons (Macquart, 1843); Aricia latipennis Macquart, 1843 = Dimorphia tristis (Wiedemann, 1819); Pyrellia violacea Macquart, 1851 = Neomyia diffidens (Walker, 1856). In Calliphoridae: Lucilia rectinevris Macquart, 1855 = Hemipyrellia ligurriens (Wiedemann, 1830). One new combination is proposed: Chrysomya flavidipennis (Macquart, 1843), in Calliphoridae.

A new nematode species, Raphidascaris (Ichthyascaris) etelidis n. sp. (Anisakidae), is described from male and female specimens found in the intestine of the deep-water longtail red snapper Etelis coruscans Valenciennes, 1862 (type host) and the crimson jobfish Pristipomoides filamentosus (Valenciennes, 1830) (both Lutjanidae, Perciformes) from off the southwestern coast of New Caledonia, South Pacific. Based on light and scanning electron microscopy examination, the new species differs from other eight representatives of the subgenus Ichthyascaris Wu, 1949 mainly in the length of spicules (345–474 µm), representing 1.5–2.5% of the body length, and in the presence of small cuticular spines on the tail tip of both sexes and 60–65 pairs of male genital papillae of which 12–13 are postanal. This is the first species of this subgenus reported from fishes of the family Lutjanidae and the second nominal species of Raphidascaris (Ichthyascaris) recorded from New Caledonian waters. Unidentifiable juveniles and rarely adults of Raphidascaris (Ichthyascaris) sp. were collected from Lutjanus vitta (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) (Lutjanidae) and Lethrinus genivittatus Valenciennes, 1830, L. miniatus (Forster, 1801) and L. rubrioperculatus Sato, 1978 (all Lethrinidae).

Despite implausible cosmopolitanism, the species Scorpiodinipora costulata (Canu & Bassler, 1929) has been attributed with reservations to small encrusting colonies with similar morphological features whose known distribution is scattered in tropical and subtropical seas: Pacific Ocean (Philippines), Indian Ocean (Oman), Red Sea, SE Mediterranean, SE Atlantic (Ghana) and SW Atlantic (Brazil). This material raised questions about its generic assignment. The genus Scorpiodinipora Balavoine, 1959 is redescribed with Schizoporella costulata Canu & Bassler, 1929, from the Philippines as the type species, as Balavoine misidentified the specimens to define the genus as Cellepora bernardii Audouin, 1826. Moreover, SEM examination of the cotypes of S. costulata showed that Canu & Bassler confused two genera among them. A lectotype and paralectotype were thus chosen from Canu & Bassler's syntypes corresponding with the present morphotype. Hippodiplosia ottomuelleriana var. parva Marcus, 1938, from Brazil, which presents the same morphotype, is provisionally considered as the junior synonym of S. costulata. Considering the broad allopatric distribution of this morphotype across the oceans and the low capacity of dispersal of species with short-lived larvae, it is likely that this material includes several sibling species. However, the role of man-mediated dispersal is not excluded, at least in regions with high shipping activity, such as that comprising the Suez Canal.

Parasitic gastropods of the genus Annulobalcis Habe, 1965 (family Eulimidae), associated with the crinoids (comatulids) are common in Nhatrang Bay (Southern Vietnam). Morphological examination of Annulobalcis specimens, collected in this area revealed four distinct forms, significantly different also in host specificity. Mitochondrial cox1 sequence data have shown these forms to comprise four distinct species, their relationships are discussed. As a result of morphological and molecular studies, four new species of the genus Annulobalcis are described: A. albus n. sp., A. wareni n. sp., A. maculatus n. sp., and A. vinarius n. sp. The three former species appeared to be strictly species specific in their choice of host (parasitizing a single host species each), while the latter was found on a number of hosts, although mostly on a single species. Speciation in relation to host specificity of Annulobalcis is discussed.

A new species of Cheilostomatous Bryozoa, collected in the Strait of Gibraltar area (Gulf of Cádiz) and previously cited as Hincksina sceletos (Busk, 1858), is described. Hincksina calpensis n. sp. is characterized by presenting a shield of 15–18 spines covering the frontal surface, the small, flattened oral spines in ovicellate zooids, and the short, oval vicarious avicularia transversally directed. Material collected in the Gulf of Cádiz is here reported as Setosella sp., characterized by presenting oval autozooids proximally truncate asymmetrically, arranged in spiral series; D-shaped opesia slightly wider than long, with a distinct distal lunula, and a pair of long, asymmetric opesiules with denticulate inner edges; the ancestrula presents a trifoliated opesia. This material seems to differ from Setosella vulnerata (Busk, 1860), a presumed widely distributed species that however presents some variability not correctly studied yet. The genus Clavodesia Harmelin & d'Hondt, 1992 is re-described, and its type species, C. biradiculata Harmelin & d'Hondt, 1992 is considered as a junior synonym of Nellia clavula Hayward, 1978, a species originally described from the NW Bay of Biscay. Finally, a colony collected in the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula is considered closely similar to Setosella cavernicola Harmelin, 1977, a species previously known only from Mediterranean caves.

Bivalves of Xylophaga Turton, 1822 require access to wood or other vegetation on the seafloor, into which they bore. They ingest the wood and, with the aid of bacteria, digest it to survive. Their complete dependence on vegetation for survival suggests that the group would be rare on the abyssal plains, as the availability of terrestrial vegetation declines with distance from land masses. Deployment of a small block of wood on a mooring at 4626 m depth in the Cape Verde Abyssal Plain, over 1600 km west of Africa tested that suggestion. When recovered seven months after deployment, the wood carried an estimated 170 boreholes/cm² evidence of extremely and surprisingly rapid colonization by a previously unknown species, here described as Xylophaga alexisi n. sp. The species is unique in having an incomplete siphon, a posterior adductor scar made of linear elements and in lacking cirri at both siphonal openings. Atlantic species described by Harvey (1996) are compared to this and other species. The bivalves are estimated to have grown 0.011 mm per day, comparable to growth estimates of X. ricei Harvey, 1996 at 5000 m depth. The high density of this species at this site, the great distance of the site from the continent which is so arid to be Saharan in character and the minimal input the site receives from surface and bottom currents argue strongly that wood-boring species thrive in the largest benthic habitat on Earth, the abyssal plain.