This article is based on a recent octocoral survey conducted on the reefs of Reunion Island and on re-examination of part of an older collection (early 1970s) from there. It provides a systematic list of the octocorals and evaluates their abundance. The study describes two new species of the genus Sinularia May, 1898. Sinularia shlagmani n. sp. is characterised by relatively small clubs with a central wart and a colony with densely placed crest-like lobes. It was compared to other species of its clade featuring polyps without sclerites and clubs with distinct central wart, and found to differ from all of them in the shape of the lobes. Sinularia tessieri n. sp. belongs to a clade with collaret, points and tentacle-rods, and clubs with an indistinct central wart, and features an encrusting growth form. It differs from the previously described species featuring similar growth form in having distinctly longer clubs on the surface of the lobules. Based on the description of Sarcophyton subviride Tixier-Durivault, 1958, a discussion is provided on this species. The survey yielded in total 34 species of the families Alcyoniidae Lamouroux, 1812, Subergorgiidae Gray, 1859 and Xeniidae Ehrenberg, 1828, among which 28 are new zoogeographical records for Reunion.

The “forelimbs only” bauplan, characterised by the combined presence of well-developed fingered forelimbs and the complete absence of hindlimbs, is rare among terrestrial tetrapods. It is restricted to three lineages of squamates with elongated worm-like bodies, the amphisbaenian genus Bipes Lacépède, 1788 and the scincid genera Sirenoscincus Sakata & Hikida, 2003 and Jarujinia Chan-ard, Makchai & Cota, 2011. In the present study, we describe a new species of Sirenoscincus from Marosely, Port Bergé region, northwest Madagascar, which presents a remarkable variation of this bauplan. The forelimbs of S. mobydick n. sp. differ from S. yamagishii Sakata & Hikida, 2003 — the only other known species in the genus — by the complete absence of any fingers or claws, therefore superficially resembling flippers, a combination of characters unique among terrestrial tetrapods. Sirenoscincus mobydick n. sp. is also differentiated from S. yamagishii by several apomorphic cephalic scalation characters, such as: 1) the absence of the frontonasal, likely fused with the frontal (versus presence of both scales); 2) the absence of the preocular, likely fused with the loreal (versus presence of both scales); and 3) the absence of the postsubocular, likely fused with the pretemporal (versus presence of both scales). Additionally, we provide detailed data on the appendicular skeleton of this new species of “mermaid skink” based on X-ray computed tomography that reveal several significant regressions of skeletal elements: 1) autopodial bones highly reduced in size and number; 2) highly reduced pelvic girdle and complete absence of hindlimbs, with the notable exception of two faintly distinguishable bony corpuscles probably representing rudiments of ancestral hindlimb bones; and 3) regressed sclerotic ring with five ossicles only, therefore representing the lowest value ever observed among lizards. Our study highlights the importance of the rare “forelimbs only bauplan” for investigating macroevolutionary questions dealing with complete limb loss in vertebrates, a convergent phenomenon that has repeatedly occurred 16 to 20 times within Scincidae Gray, 1825.

Revision of the genus Entyposis Kolbe, 1894 (Insecta, Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Melolonthidae).

The genus Entyposis Kolbe, 1894 is revised. The systematic position of this genus within the Schizonychini Burmeister, 1855 is discussed. Schizonycha cavicollis Fairmaire, 1887 is designated as genotype. Synonymies between Entyposis mendax Péringuey, 1904, Schizonycha nyukana Kolbe, 1910 and Entyposa montana Moser, 1913, are proposed. Lectotypes are designated for Schizonycha cavicollis, Schizonycha nyukana and Entyposa montana. Six new species are described and compared to their most related species: Entyposis bidentata n. sp., E. martinezi n. sp., E. rasplusi n. sp. and E. madogolelei n. sp. from Mozambique, E. excavata n. sp. from Tanzania and E. squamulata n. sp. from Kenya and Tanzania. The history of the genus and its included species is presented, and a key to species is given.

A new species of Lagaropsylla. Jordan & Rothschild, 1921 from Madagascar(Insecta, Siphonaptera, Ischnopsyllidae).

This paper describes a new species of the genus Lagaropsylla Jordan & Rothschild, 1921, collected in the Makay Mountains in Madagascar, on the bat Otomops madagascariensis Dorst, 1953. Male differs from L. obliqua Smit, 1957 and L. hoogstraali Smit, 1957 by the hamulus shape, which is markedly higher than large, exhibiting a small “tooth” backwards of the apex; and differs from L. consularis Smit, 1957 by the preoral tuber, the pronotal comb and the ductus ejaculatorius shapes. Female has a sclerite at the ductus bursae base and differs from L. consularis by the preoral tuber shape and rather short spines on the comb. The new species' discovery is explained, in one hand, by the rarity of the host, and, in the other hand, by the lack of previous bats and ectoparasites studies in the remote Makay Mountains. A new parasite-host association between Araeopsylla martialis (Rothschild, 1903) and O. madagascariensis is mentioned.

The deep-water molluscs collected during the expedition MD55 off SE Brazil have been gradually studied in some previous papers. The present one is focused on samples belonging to caenogastropod taxa Xenophoridae Troschel, 1852, Cypraeoidea Rafinesque, 1815, mitriforms and Terebridae Mörch, 1852. Regarding the Xenophoridae, Onustus aquitanus n. sp. is a new species, collected off the littoral of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 430–637 m depth (continental slope). The main characters of the species include the small size (c. 20 mm), the proportionally wide shell, the white colour, the short peripheral flange, the oblique riblets weakly developed and a brown multispiral protoconch. This appears to be the smallest living species of the family, resembling in this aspect fossil species. In respect to the Cypraeoidea, the following results were obtained: family Cypraeidae Rafinesque, 1815: Erosaria acicularis (Gmelin, 1791) and Luria cinerea (Gmelin, 1791) had the deepest record, respectively 607–620 m and 295–940 m, although the samples were all dead, eroded shells. Family Lamellariidae d'Orbigny, 1841 : a total of three lots were collected, provisionally identified as Lamellaria spp. as the samples consist of only vestigial shells; possibly each lot represents a different species. Family Pediculariidae Gray, 1853: a sample of Pedicularia tibia Simone, 2005 was found, expanding the range c. 1000 km southwards, from Ceará to Espírito Santo. Family Ovulidae Fleming, 1822: Pseudosimnia lacrima n. sp., collected off Espírito Santo, 607–620 m depth, is described here and is mainly characterised by its strong biconic outline, small size (c. 7 mm), and a thick peripheral callus. Family Triviidae Troschel, 1863: CLeotrivia antillarum (Schilder, 1922) is recorded for the first time as deep as 620 m, and its distribution expanded from Rio Grande do Norte to Espírito Santo; Dolichupis akangus n. sp. with rounded outline and c. 15 transverse ribs; D. pingius n. sp. with the outer lip expanded posteriorly and c. 10 ribs. In respect to the mitriform neogastropods, the following species are emphasised: family Costellariidae MacDonald, 1860: Vexillum sp., 607–620 m depth; Turricostellaria amphissa n. sp., 295 m depth; T. jukyry n. sp.; T. apyrahi n. sp., both 790–1575 m depth; T. ovir n. sp., 1200 m depth; Nodicostellaria crassa (Simone, 1995), 240–600 m depth, with extension northwards of the range up to Espírito Santo; Austromitra decresca n. sp., 60–105 m depth. Family Mitridae Swainson, 1829: Subcancilla joapyra n. sp., 295 m depth; S. cf. straminea (Adams, 1853), 607–620 m depth. Family Volutomitridae Gray, 1854: Microvoluta corona n. sp., 1500–1575 m depth. Family Mitromorphidae Casey, 1904: Mitromorpha sama n. sp., 607–940 m depth; M. mirim n. sp., 60– 105 m depth. Regarding the conoidean Terebridae, this paper is a complement of a previous study. It deals with a new species — Terebra assu Simone n. sp., from the Abrolhos Bank, 295 m depth, characterised by its narrow outline, yellowish colour, weak sculpture on the last whorls, and a proportionally broad, paucispiral protoconch. A second finding of Terebra alagoensis Lima, Tenório & Barros, 2007 expands the geographic range from Alagoas to north Espírito Santo. A discussion on the systematics of the “complex Terebra doellojuradoi” in South American coast is also provided, highlighting the improbability of synonymy between T. leptapsis