Despite first being described from Virginia, the widely distributed brackish water hydrozoan Blackfordia virginica is often hypothesized to have been introduced from the Black Sea to the United States. However, the alternative view that B. virginica was introduced to the Black Sea also persists in the literature. This study investigates the population structure of B. virginica in the United States to assess the directionality and/or the number of introduction events. During 2009 and 2010, estuaries were sampled from Delaware to Louisiana for brackish water hydromedusae. Nineteen samples of Blackfordia virginica were collected from four localities, including a channel running between St. Catherines Island and Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, a region for which it had not been reported prior to this study. We PCR amplified and sequenced two mitochondrial markers (COI & 16S), and one nuclear marker (ITS1). We compared data from individuals collected on the east coast of the United States with individuals collected in California. This revealed low diversity (two haplotypes with a maximal p-difference of 0.03% for COI and just a single haplotype for 16S) and no unique haplotypes at any locality. Low genetic variability, shared haplotypes in disparate localities, and a lack of unique haplotypes in any population are consistent with a founder effect, suggesting a single introduction and subsequent spread throughout the United States.

The species of Cabiropidae having a Cabirops-type morphology of the mature female (lateral body compression) are reviewed, including members of the genera Cabirops Kossmann, Arcturocheres Hansen, and Bourdonia Rybakov, all of which parasitize isopods. The genus Astacilloechus Hansen is shown to be a synonym of Arcturocheres, and Paradajus Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis is a synonym of Cabirops. Danalia fraissei Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis is transferred to Cabirops. A new genus, Rolandoniscus, is erected for Cabirops serratus Bourdon. The rhizocephalan parasite Perezina Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis is confirmed to belong to Cabiropidae, not Cryptoniscidae. A key to genus-groups, based on female morphology, of the 12 genera within Cabiropidae is provided, as is a key, based on the cryptoniscus stage, to the five genera with Cabirops-type female morphology.

Three closely related species of the Panorpa banksiana species group, P. dissimilis Carpenter, P. gracilis Carpenter, and P. palustris Byers are distinguishable by differences in the male genitalia and distribution. Panorpa debilis Westwood is shown to consist of five forms, differing in characteristics of the aedeagal hamulus, ventral parameres, and distributions. The exact identity of P. debilis and P. canadensis Banks is determined from the study of the type or recently collected examples from near the type locality. Because the ventral parameres of P. nebulosa Westwood and P. flexa Carpenter are often curved and crossed apically in both species, leading to misidentifications, a characteristic of the dististyles is shown to distinguish the two. The presence of P. confusa Westwood is confirmed in Virginia, and the appearance of its ventral parameres is discussed. Panorpa longicornis Carpenter, P. subfurcata Westwood, and P. subulifera Byers are transferred to the P. virginica group, and differences between them are discussed and figured, and their ranges in the state are outlined. The identity of P. insolens Carpenter is established, and it is redescribed and distinguished from its close relatives P. helena Byers and an unnamed species in Kentucky. The species is recorded from Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Belone is distinguished from other genera of Belonidae mostly because of its complete cephalic sensory system, presence of gill rakers, vomerine teeth, and the pattern of its dentition. This eastern North Atlantic genus contains two extant species and at least three described fossil species from Lower Oligocene and Upper Miocene formations in Europe. †Belone countermani, sp. nov., a new species of needlefish from the Tortonian Upper Miocene St. Marys Formation of Calvert Cliffs (Maryland, U.S.A.), is described herein based on a well-preserved three-dimensional associated pair of upper and lower jaws. This rostrum represents the only record of this genus in the western North Atlantic Ocean. †Belone countermani is characterized by a unique dental pattern on the dentary. The dentary commissural region is filled with several rows of small accessory teeth (five to seven) that gradually decrease in number of rows; along the symphysial region there is one inner row of conical teeth and one external row of accessory teeth. Discovery of †Belone countermani indicates that extant Belone species are a relict diversity of an old group that had a wider distribution that included the western North Atlantic.

O gênero Belone se diferencia dos demais belonídeos principalmente por causa do seu sistema sensorial cefálico completo, presença de rastros branquiais, dentes no vômer e padrão de dentição. O gênero é restrito ao oceano Atlântico Norte Oriental e contem duas espécies recentes e pelo menos três espécies fósseis descritas de formações do Oligoceno Inferior e Mioceno Superior na Europa. †Belone countermani, sp. nov., uma espécie nova de peixe-agulha do Tortoniano Mioceno Inferior da Formação St. Marys das Falésias de Calvert (Maryland), é descrita com base em fragmentos bem preservados e tridimensionais de um par de maxilas. Este rostro representa o único registro deste gênero no oceano Atlântico Norte Ocidental. †Belone countermani é caracterizado pelo padrão único de dentição no dentário. A região comissural do dentário é preeenchida por várias fileiras de pequenos dentes acessórios (cinco a sete), que reduzem em número de fileiras e na região sinfisial resta apenas uma fileira de dentes cônicos mais interna e uma fileira de dentes acessários mais externa. A descoberta de †Belone countermani revela que as espécies atuais de Belone são remanescentes de um grupo antigo que apresentava uma distribuição maior que incluia o oceano Atlântico Norte Ocidental.

I describe a new treefrog of the Litoria gracilenta group from the lowlands along an outlying volcanic peak in southeastern Papua New Guinea. The new species is distinctive among members of that group in a combination of details of color pattern and morphometric characters, and it is further unique within that group in being the only species known to have a call consisting of several notes. It is also unusual for the group in having been found breeding in a stream. This species complex has an extensive but disjunct range spanning the entire extent of New Guinea, outlying islands to the west and the east, and eastern Australia. The new species fills in a range gap of 830 km between its nearest relatives to the northwest and southeast.

The history of discovery of the fossil goose Geochen rhuax Wetmore on the island of Hawaii is reviewed through archival records and the literature. Although the age of the fossil was previously undetermined, recent radiocarbon dates establish that the age of the lava flow immediately overlying the bones was 9170 ± 100 yrs b.p. A very large extinct, flightless goose that is abundant in latest Holocene lava tubes on the western versant of the island of Hawaii was previously determined by mtDNA to be part of the Hawaiian radiation of Branta. This goose is now also known from the southeastern versant of the island. Although the holotype of Geochen rhuax is somewhat smaller in size, it is considered to belong to the same species lineage as the more recent fossils, and all giant goose fossils from Hawaiian Island are here referred to as Branta rhuax, new combination.

A large, relatively intact fossil bird's egg collected on Bermuda over a century ago is identified here as that of a Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis, a species known historically only as an occasional vagrant in Bermuda. Although the exact provenance and age were originally unknown, contemporary descriptions of the stratigraphy and subsequent amino acid ratios of the attached limestone matrix establish the age as a Middle Pleistocene interglacial, probably Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 or perhaps slightly older. The presence of an egg is a very likely indication of at least a small former breeding colony of Brown Pelicans on Bermuda. Ecological conditions during interglacial periods and presence of potential fish prey would have made such a colonization feasible.

Two species of the eomyid rodent Paradjidaumo are recognized from the Chadronian (latest Eocene) White River Formation in the Flagstaff Rim area of Wyoming: P. hansonorum from early Chadronian levels and P. nanus, new species, from higher levels representing the middle Chadronian.