A nearly complete fossil soft-shelled turtle (Trionychidae) from the Eocene Washakie Formation of Wyoming is described and identified as Oliveremys uintaensis, comb. nov. Previously known only from a single shell specimen, O. uintaensis can now be diagnosed using both skull and shell characteristics, including callosified but unsculptured xiphiplastra. “Trionyx” tritor “T.” franciscae, “T.” nelsoni and “T.” scutumantiquum are identified as junior synonyms of O. uintaensis. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses place O. uintaensis and all of its junior synonyms along with multiple previously scored fossil trionychid taxa. Reinterpretation of three characters within the matrix, as well as the addition of fossil taxa, resulted in novel relationships. These relationships were not recovered when only extant trionychids were included in a reinterpreted matrix or when fossil taxa were added without reinterpretation. The results indicate that the addition of fossil taxa is sometimes necessary to detect changes caused by other revisions to the character matrix.

Sampling along the New England Seamount Chain has produced a large number of new octocoral species, especially of the bamboo corals in the subfamily Keratoisidinae. The new genus described here is unusual in that it branches from the internodes yet has sclerites at the base of the polyp body that are arranged obliquely, and in having tentacles that can be pulled completely into the top of the polyp over the retracted oral disk. The genus and species are characterized using both morphological and molecular data.

The diversity and frequency of epibiota collected over three years (2001, 2002, 2008) from sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea and Chelonia mydas) nesting on Teopa Beach in Jalisco State, Mexico, are described. This diversity is compared to epibiotic assemblages procured from these same turtle species nesting on other Mexican beaches, and the role these turtles play in the conservation and dispersal of these epibiota is discussed. Given the increased awareness of epibionts and the desire of many researchers to make positive identifications, specific diagnoses, photographs and a collecting protocol will serve as a basic aid to the collection and accurate identification of epibionts found on turtles living along the Pacific coast of Mexico.

The distributions of Cancer borealis and Cancer irroratus are analyzed, a record of C. borealis from Bermuda is confirmed, and new records of C. irroratus from Haiti are reported. Important morphological characters from the carapace were selected and tested for significant differences across latitude and depth gradients. One-way analysis of variance was used to test for significance. Least square means technique with Tukey—Kramer statistics was used to examine the differences between character measurement means. Northern (above 41°N) and southern (below 30°N) groups of C. borealis showed significant (P < 0.05) differences from mid-latitude groups in carapace and chelae measurement means. In C. irroratus, northern (above 38°N) and southern (below 32°N) groups also exhibited significant (P < 0.05) differences from mid-latitude groups in carapace and chelae measurement means. Discriminant function analysis using morphological diagnostic characters were used effectively to differentiate between the two species.

Zoological collections housing Egyptian specimens that pre-date the construction of the Aswan High Dam are of unique historical importance. Before the construction of the High Aswan Dam, Yale University organized three archeological salvage expeditions, between 1962 and 1965, to the Nile River Valley south of Aswan as part of an international UNESCO-organized salvage mission. Although the focus of these expeditions was the recovery of archeological artifacts, team leaders also included collection of zoological specimens in their operations. These efforts resulted in the collection of 448 species spanning 16 families of Egyptian mammals that were subsequently deposited in the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Our re-survey of these collections revealed that almost two-thirds had been misidentified or only identified to “order” level taxonomic ranks. Many of the specimens collected were from sites now submerged beneath Lake Nasser and so provide a unique temporal snapshot of a region whose biodiversity was significantly restructured by human engineering. Our inventory identified several specimens now threatened with extinction or already extinct in Egypt, and also significantly expands the contemporary range of larger rat-tailed bats (Rhinopoma microphyllum).