Six new species of the genus Nassarius Duméril, 1805 are described, based on material collected from the Coral Triangle and the South Pacific. We combine traditional morphology-based descriptions with the molecular (Cytochrome c oxidase I - COI) signature of the new species. New species are: Nassarius ocellatus sp. nov. (Philippines to Vanuatu), Nassarius houbricki sp. nov. (Solomon Islands to Queensland and Tonga), Nassarius radians sp. nov. (Philippines to Vanuatu), Nassarius vanuatuensis sp. nov. (Vanuatu), Nassarius velvetosus sp. nov. (Western Australia to Fiji) and Nassarius martinezi sp. nov. (Solomon Islands to Tonga).

The genus Strobiligera Dall, 1924, sometimes treated as a synonym of Inella Bayle, 1879, included up to now species geographically restricted to the North Atlantic Ocean, usually occurring at great depths. The present study records the genus Strobiligera in the South Atlantic Ocean, with the recognition of two species in Southeastern Brazil. The shell of Strobiligera delicata sp. nov., which has a white teleoconch and a light brown protoconch, is very similar in general coloration to the shells of Strobiligera georgiana (Dall, 1927) comb. nov. and Strobiligera indigena (Dall, 1927) comb, nov., both from the southeastern coast of the United States. However, S. delicata differs from those species in shell shape, number of axial cords on the teleoconch and earlier development of the adapical spiral cord of the teleoconch. Strobiligera inaudita (Rolán and Lee, 2008) comb, nov., previously known from the southern coast of the United States, is diagnosed by a teleoconch with adapical and abapical spiral cords tinted with brown and white nodules, and by a completely white median spiral cord. Strobiligera delicata, S. inaudita, S. georgiana and S. indigena have multispiral protoconchs, similar to those of their congeneric species from the East Atlantic (Europe and North Africa) and Mediterranean. Other species of Strobiligera from the Caribbean and neighboring areas, including the type species Triforis ibex Dall, 1881, have a paucispiral protoconch. Hence, the generic allocation of species with a multispiral protoconch to Strobiligera cannot be considered definitive, and should be confirmed by subsequent anatomical studies of species with different modes of development.

Molecular and morphological evidence revealed the existence of two cryptic species of Costasiella Pruvot-Fol, 1951 in the Bahamas. A review of the literature indicates that one of these species is the western Atlantic widespread species Costasiella ocellifera (Simroth, 1895), whereas the other species is undescribed. The new species is externally similar to Costasiella ocellifera but can be distinguished by the absence of a penial stylet and the radular morphology. Phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses confirm that the new species is genetically distinct from C. ocellifera. The new species has only been found in the Bahamas, but there are possible records from Cuba and Jamaica.

As a result of deep-water oil prospecting in the Campos Basin, Brazil, a rich diversity of protobranchiate pelecypods has been revealed. In this study, we identified four new species of Ledella and conducted a morphometric study to corroborate their delimitation. The resulting conchological-based statistic models are in 95% agreement with the traditional criteria for the right valves and 88.33% for the left valves. Certain variables were particularly relevant in these analyses; these variables expressed the importance of the shape of the rostrum and hinge plate for the right valves and the general shell shape and hinge plate for the left valves. The hinge plate variables are not typically used as diagnostic characters of protobranchiate pelecypods and, when applied, they are not given much importance. However, our statistical analyses stressed the importance of these characters. Therefore, we strongly suggest that future descriptions of protobranchiate pelecypods place greater emphasis on these characters.

The present research was a morphological and morphometric analysis of species from the family Loliginidae distributed in the Mexican Pacific and Gulf of California. These species are captured incidentally in shrimp fisheries and commercialized locally. Nevertheless, the number of species from the zone is uncertain, and there are numerous taxonomic problems in the group that limit the accurate identification of species and complicate the proper elaboration of the fisheries record. Morphological and morphometric analyses were performed using a canonical variable analysis (CVA) of 530 organisms. Six groups were separated a priori based on the shape of the funnel organ.

Based on the observed differences, four species were recognized: Lolliguncula (Lolliguncula) panamensis Berry, 1911, Lolliguncula (Lolliguncula) argus Brakoniecki and Roper, 1985, Lolliguncula (Loliolopsis) diomedeae (Hoyle, 1904), and Doryteuthis (Amerigo) opalescens (Berry, 1911). Two additional forms were recognized and named the following: Lolliguncula sp. 1, and Lolliguncula sp. 2. Three canonical variables (CV) explained 95.4% of variability among the groups in the analysis results. Variance percentages related to CV1, CV2, and CV3 were 61.9, 19.5, and 13.9%, respectively. A MANOVA analysis supported the statistically significant differences among the squid groups (Wilk's lambda = 0.023; F_(752447) = 38.6; P < 0.0000). In accordance with the analyses developed in this research, it is evident that there are morphological and morphometric characteristics that indicate a greater diversity of taxa are present compared to the list of species previously reported off the Pacific coasts of Mexico.

Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912 is reported for the first time in the United States. Identification was based on combined morphological and molecular data (mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I and 16S rRNA sequences) of a specimen collected in a retail garden center in northern California. We provide some background information on the biology and ecology of the slug and discuss the pest status of the species.

Inflectarius magazinensis (Pilsbry and Ferriss, 1907), the Magazine Mountain Shagreen, is an endemic land snail found only on Magazine Mountain, Arkansas, U.S.A. This species was given the status of threatened in 1989, but was removed from the threatened list by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in June 2013 due to apparent stability of the population within its known habitat. Inflectarius magazinensis is a rupicolous species inhabiting talus areas of Savanna sandstone. Populations occur from approximately 670 m to 790 m on the north and west sides of Magazine Mountain. Our study was designed to gather information regarding basic natural history and ecology knowledge for this species. We examined both known localities and sites where there were no historical records for the presence of I. magazinensis but suitable habitat was present. We found that this species is restricted to only the north- and west-facing slopes of Magazine Mountain. Due to its restricted habitat preferences, the total range of this species amounts to approximately nine hectares on the upper slopes of the mountain. Because I. magazinensis is endemic to Magazine Mountain and restricted to upper elevations, it should be monitored on a regular basis. Due to levels of uncertainty in terms of climate change, pollution, and disturbance (both natural and anthropogenic), habitat health should be taken into consideration as a metric used for monitoring the stability and long-term viability of this species.

Octopus hubbsorum Berry, 1953 occurs in a wide region of the oriental tropical Pacific. This is the principal target species in the octopus fisheries in Mexico. A female with abnormally bifurcated second arm was collected from an artisanal fishery in Puerto Angel, Oaxaca, Mexico.

There are several references to octopuses eating birds but few give details of the encounters. Here we document the details of seven instances (six Enteroctopus dofleini (Wülker, 1910) and one Octopus cf. insularis Leite and Haimovici, 2008) of octopuses attacking, capturing or eating birds, including glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens), a pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba), a double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), a western grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) a brown noddy (Anous stolidus) and a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).

A revised database of terrestrial gastropods from North America north of Mexico was assembled in the spring of 2012, which included not only all likely species-level entities, updated family and naturalized exotic assignments, but also shell and body size data. Analyses of these reveal that: (1) the fauna represents approximately 1,200 species, and is dominated by the Polygyridae, Helminthoglyptidae, and Vertiginidae. This number is surprisingly small, with other land masses of ½ to 1/100^th the size possessing a larger fauna; (2) naturalized species make up 6% of the total fauna; (3) while slugs represent only 7% of the native fauna, they constitute over 1/3 of the naturalized fauna; (4) the accumulation curve for recognized species is sigmoidal, with current rates being the lowest experienced in 200 years. As a result, it appears that only 150–300 net additional taxa may await description, with the principle future taxonomic activity being revisionary work; (5) like other faunas, both native and naturalized land snails in North America possess bimodal height/width ratios; (6) native land snails possess a bimodal, right-skewed biovolume distribution along a log axis, which differs greatly from the unimodal left-skewed distribution typical of many other taxa groups; and, (7) the distribution of species within families and genera, and of the number of species described by a given researcher all possess Power Law/Log Normal distributions characteristic of complex adaptive systems.

The terrestrial, ellobioid taxon, Carychiidae provides an excellent case study for testing integrative taxonomy and addressing the plethora of historical species designations based on vague morphological characters. Since the Carychiidae are ephemeral, hermaphroditic microgastropods (< 2mm) inhabiting permanently moist aphotic zones of epigean (Carychium O. F. Müller, 1773) and subterranean habitats (eutroglobiont Zospeum Bourguignat, 1856), studies investigating their reproductive system for species delimitation have been futile. Many carychiid species designations were established during the mid-18^th to 20^th Century heydays of species discovery. Naturalists either split (“splitters”) species by recognizing them according to trivial differences in shell morphology or grouped them (“lumpers”) based upon common morphological traits. The concept of phenotypic variability was not considered or greatly underestimated in these species hypotheses. Although integration of DNA barcodes has since enabled a reliable identification and delineation of most of the traditional morphospecies, still many morphologically unrecognized evolutionary lineages have been found in apparently widespread and variable taxa. In a retrospective, morphometric approach (i.e., starting from genetically identified, DNA-barcoded material), historically established conchological characters of the outer shell of two European Carychium species, Carychium minimum O. F. Müller, 1774 and Carychium tridentatum (Risso ,1826), are investigated. Revealed was a continuum of intraspecific conchological variability, indicating wide areas of overlap between both taxa. The conventional practice of separating species based on shell morphology alone was sufficient for a qualitative species assignment (i.e., when characteristic phenotypes are observed). Molecular analyses, however, enabled a quantitative species assignment for sympatric populations, intermediate morphotypes and juveniles.

Helicinids represent a family of tropical land snails with a distribution range limited to the subtropical and tropical zones of the New World, Australasia, and the Pacific. For an estimate of diversity in this poorly systematically revised group, the total number of described taxa was determined and used for calculations based on analyses of selected case studies with regard to the percentage of valid and new taxa.

Extensive bibliographic searches identified about 1,250 available names, regardless of rank, that were described from 1801 onward. Fiftyeight percent of the names represent New World taxa whose majority (63%) was created before 1880 while the intensive study in most of the Australasian and Pacific areas started much later with the bulk of taxa described between 1880–1930. An analysis of the distribution of the type localities and the times of descriptions allowed for identification of scarcely- and well-studied areas.

Eight potentially representative case studies of major revisions were compared with respect to changes in described versus “true” diversity. The geographic range covered Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Lesser Antilles, New Caledonia, northeast Australia, and the Hawaiian and Gambier Islands. In these studies approximately half of the available names were regarded as synonyms (range from 37 to 72%). On the other hand, 36 to 41% of the recognized diversity represented new species depending on whether a more lumping or splitting approach was considered, the latter simulated by simply counting subspecies as equal units of diversity. The amount of new taxa ranged from 2% (Cuba) to 90% (Gambier Islands). Under the assumption that six of the studies were representative throughout the area of distribution, worldwide diversity would range from 770 to 1,140 species or up to 1,400 species if the studies from the Australasian-Pacific area were realistic. Although obviously poorly studied, in comparison with an estimate for all continental molluscs of Mexico and Central America by Thompson (2011), helicinids would still be among the better documented snail families for this region.

The following aspects and their consequences are discussed as most significant drawbacks in the exploration of helicinids: questionable systematic concepts above species level; limited recognized differentiating characters and convergence; species complexes and last, massive habitat loss, increasingly fragmented distribution and extinction. Another practical aspect is the rather limited availability of wet preserved material.

The terrestrial littorinoid snail genus Tropidophora Troschel, 1847 is especially diverse on Madagascar with 94 currently recognized species and numerous named varieties. Supposed high within-species variation in shell and genital morphology led some researchers to suggest that these characters may be too variable to distinguish species, prompting them to conclude that the group may be taxonomically over-split. Recent sampling allows an independent test using COI sequence data which suggests that Madagascar's Tropidophora species are not over-named but are more diverse than previously thought. Molecular diversity is congruent with traditional morphology-based species concepts suggesting that future work using both molecular and morphological data sets will be useful in a taxonomic revision of the genus.