The trapdoor spider family Migidae has a classical Gondwanan distribution and is found on all southern continents except the Indian region. The Australian fauna consists of three genera including Moggridgea O. P. Cambridge from south-western Australia and Kangaroo Island, South Australia; Moggridgea is otherwise widespread throughout Africa. The sole named species of Moggridgea from Western Australia, M. tingle Main, and its unnamed relatives are the subject of the present paper, which was stimulated by concern for the long-term persistence of populations, and the discovery of deep genetic divergences between populations. A phylogeny of the Western Australian species relative to African and South Australian Moggridgea was generated using molecular COI and ITS rDNA data, and based on both molecular and morphological criteria we conclude that the Western Australian taxa should be removed from Moggridgea and transferred to a new genus, Bertmainius. The seven species are delimited using both morphological and molecular criteria: B. tingle (Main) (the type species), and six new species, B. colonus, B. monachus, B. mysticus, B. opimus, B. pandus and B. tumidus. All seven species are considered to be threatened using IUCN criteria, with the major threatening processes being inappropriate fire regimes and climate change.

A significant diversity of terrestrial oniscidean isopods was recently discovered in the subterranean ‘calcrete islands’ of Western Australia, but the species and higher-level systematic status of much of the fauna are currently uncertain. Here we focus on one group of species that was initially assigned to the genus Trichorhina (Platyarthridae), based on several shared characters, and investigate the phylogenetic relationships of these species to 21 oniscidean genera, including 13 known families, using 18S rDNA sequence data. We then present phylogenetic analyses using 28S-only and combined 18S, 28S rDNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) data for a more restricted sampling of taxa, and present results for a detailed morphological study of the antennae and other cephalic structures of exemplar taxa. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses of the extended 18S-only, the 28S-only and multi-gene datasets provide strong evidence for a distinct well-supported monophyletic group comprising the new Western Australian and one South American taxon. This clade is unrelated to all included members of Platyarthridae, which appears to be polyphyletic, and it forms a distinct group relative to other oniscidean families. Given these findings and the results of the morphological study, a new southern hemisphere oniscidean family, Paraplatyarthridae Javidkar & King, fam. nov. is erected based on Paraplatyarthrus subterraneus Javidkar & King, gen. & sp. nov. (type genus and species), and several undescribed taxa which occur in the arid (terrestrial and subterranean) regions of Western Australia and subtropical South America. Paraplatyarthridae is distinguishable from all other oniscidian families on a combination of character states including, among others, the presence of fan-like scale setae on the dorsal body, and the ventral second antenna with leaf-like scale setae and a furrow containing elongated hair-like capillary setae that form part of a water conducting system unique within Oniscidea. This study has important implications for the higher-level classification of oniscidean crustaceans and points to the need for a more detailed molecular phylogeny that includes a comprehensive sampling of southern hemisphere taxa.

Antarctica contains some of the most challenging environmental conditions on the planet due to freezing temperatures, prolonged winters and lack of liquid water. Whereas 99.7% of Antarctica is permanently covered by ice and snow, some coastal areas and mountain ridges have remained ice-free and are able to sustain populations of microinvertebrates. Tardigrades are one of the more dominant groups of microfauna in soil and limno-terrestrial habitats, but little is known of their diversity and distribution across Antarctica. Here, we examine tardigrades sampled from across an extensive region of continental Antarctica, and analyse and compare their partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene sequences with those from the Antarctic Peninsula, maritime and sub-Antarctica, Tierra del Fuego and other worldwide locations in order to recognise operational taxonomic units (OTUs). From 439 new tardigrade COI sequences, we identified 98 unique haplotypes (85 from Antarctica) belonging to Acutuncus, Diphascon, Echiniscus, Macrobiotus, Milnesium and unidentified Parachela. Operational taxonomic units were delimited by Poisson tree processes and general mixed Yule coalescent methods, resulting in 58 and 55 putative species, respectively. Most tardigrades appear to be locally endemic (i.e. restricted to a single geographic region), but some (e.g. Acutuncus antarcticus (Richters, 1904)) are widespread across continental Antarctica. Our molecular results reveal: (i) greater diversity than has previously been appreciated with distinct OTUs that potentially represent undescribed species, and (ii) a lack of connectivity between most OTUs from continental Antarctica and those from other Antarctic geographical zones.

Doryctinae (Hymenoptera : Braconidae) is a large and diverse subfamily of parasitic wasps that has received much attention recently, with new species and genera described and phylogenies based on morphological and/or molecular data that have improved higher-level classification and species delimitation. However, the status of several genera is still unresolved, if not controversial. Here we focus on two related groups of such genera, Dendrosoter Wesmael–Caenopachys Foerster and Ecphylus Foerster–Sycosoter Picard & Lichtenstein. We integrated morphological and molecular (COI and 28S–D2 genes) evidence to highlight, by phylogenetic analyses (maximum likelihood and Bayesian) and a posteriori morphological examination, previously overlooked variation, which is here illustrated and discussed. Monophyly of Dendrosoter and Caenopachys and the presence of synapomorphic morphological characters support synonymy of Caenopachys under Dendrosoter. Low genetic differentiation and high variability for putatively diagnostic morphological characters found in both C. hartigii (Ratzeburg) and C. caenopachoides (Ruschka) supports synonymy of D. caenopachoides under D. hartigii, syn. nov. Morphological and molecular evidence together also indicate independent generic status for Sycosoter, stat. rev., which is here resurrected. This work represents a further advancement in the framework of the ongoing effort to improve systematics and classification of the subfamily Doryctinae.

The informal taxon ‘genus Chile’ of Brundin, based solely on pupal exuviae of a podonomine Chironomidae, has remained inadequately known for half a century. New collections reveal life associations, and provide molecular data to hypothesise a precise phylogenetic placement in the austral Podonominae. A densely sampled molecular phylogeny based on two nuclear and one mitochondrial DNA markers shows ‘genus Chile’ to be the sister group to Podonomopsis Brundin, 1966. Within Podonomopsis a clade of South American species is sister to all Australian species. We discuss how to rank such a sister group taxon and treat ‘genus Chile’ as a new subgenus Araucanopsis, subg. nov. with the new species, Podonomopsis (Araucanopsis) avelasse, sp. nov. from Chile and Argentina as genotype of the monotypic subgenus. We describe P. (A.) avelasse in all stages and provide an expanded diagnosis and description of Podonomopsis to include Araucanopsis. A dated biogeographic hypothesis (chronogram) infers the most recent common ancestor (tmcra) of expanded Podonomopsis at 95 million years ago (Mya) (68–122 Mya 95% highest posterior density), ‘core’ Podonomopsis at 83 Mya (58–108) and Australian Podonomopsis at 65 Mya (44–87). All dates are before the South America–Australia geological separation through Antarctica, supporting previous conclusions that the taxon distribution is ‘Gondwanan’ in origin. Podonomopsis, even as expanded here, remains unknown from New Zealand or elsewhere on extant Zealandia.