A new species of rhizocephalan barnacle is described parasitizing the Florida lobsterette Nephropsis aculeata Smith, 1881. This is the first record of a nephropoid as a host for any rhizocephalan and represents the first record of a rhizocephalan parasitizing any marine lobster (Achelata, Astacidea, Glypheidea, Polychelida). The new species belongs to the genus ParthenopeaKossmann, 1874, which now contains three species: Parthenopea australisLützen, Glenner & Lörz, 2009 (on a callianassid in New Zealand), P. subterraneaKossmann, 1874 (on a callianassid and an axiid in the Skagerrak strait, Black Sea, and Mediterranean), and P. reinhardi n. sp. (on N. aculeata from Dry Tortugas, Florida, USA). The new species can be distinguished from the other two in the genus based on the shape of the seminal receptacle ducts (proximally straight in P. subterranea versus coiled in P. reinhardi n. sp.) and annuli on the stalk (present in in P. australis but absent in P. reinhardi n. sp.) and the position of the mantle opening (on the surface and close to the stalk in P. australis versus in a groove and more distant from the stalk in P. reinhardi n. sp.). We urge researchers and fisheries scientists working on marine lobsters to examine specimens for rhizocephalans, potentially leading to additional new records among lobster hosts.

A new species of calliopiid amphipod, Calliopius ezoensis, from the eastern coasts of Hokkaido, Japan, is described and named. Calliopius ezoensis is similar to the North Atlantic C. sablensisBousfield & Hendrycks, 1997, but can be discriminated from it in possessing two rows of calceoli on the peduncular articles of antennae 1 and 2 of the female, having a mandibular palp of article 3 longer than article 2, and setation of epimeral plate 3 on the ventral submargin. The new species is distinguished from North Pacific congeners by a combination of characteristics: in having dorsally smooth pereonites, the number of marginal and submarginal setal rows on epimeral plate 2, setation of palp article 2 of maxilla 1, indistinct sexually dimorphic gnathopods 1 and 2, and the length ratio of the inner and outer rami of uropod 2. In addition to previously provided DNA sequences of nuclear histone H3 and mitochondrial 16S rRNA genes, nuclear 28S rRNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequences of this new species are provided for the future comparative purposes.

Eight species of rodents are described based on previously unreported fossil material from the early Eocene Adobe Town Member of the Washakie Formation of Wyoming. Among these are two new species: the sciuravid Pauromys turnbulli and the cylindrodont Pareumys flynni. The overall rodent fauna consists of twelve species. The greatest change in the rodent fauna is between the lower and middle units of the Adobe Town Member; six species having their last occurrence in the lower unit and three species having their first occurrence in the middle unit. This coincides with the boundary of the Bridgerian and Uintan North American Land Mammal Ages.

Recent studies using molecular phylogenetics have provided new insight into the composition of and relationships among species in the avian tribe Xolmiini. Key findings include the paraphyly of Xolmis, including the exclusion of X. dominicanus from the Xolmiini, and the apparent paraphyly of Muscisaxicola. We provide a revised classification of the Xolmiini, including a new genus for Muscisaxicola fluviatilis, based on the recent phylogenetic results.

Heteromysoides kumejimensis, a new species of the family Mysidae (Mysida) is described from a submarine cave on Kumejima Island, Ryukyu Islands, southwestern Japan, This species can be distinguished from other species of the genus by the following combination of characters: eyes subglobular in dorsal aspect, without sharp process; cornea developed; telson subtriangular, distally rounded, 1.7 times as long as maximum width, with 3 or 4 pairs of short simple spines laterally, and with 3 or 4 pairs of long serrate spines posterolaterally and 1 pair of short simple spines apically; and endopod of third thoracopod with simple, not subchelate, termination.

A poorly-known proboscidate leech species, Torix tukubana (Oka, 1935), in which the mid-body somites are biannulate dorsally and triannulate ventrally, is redescribed based on new specimens collected from its type locality, Mt. Tsukubasan in Honshu, Japan. The redescription provides the internal digestive and genital organs of T. tukubana for the first time. Our observation reveals that this species possesses equal-sized 1st–6th pairs of crop ceca that are nondiverticulated and tubular ovisacs running alongside the ventral nerve cord. Additionally, phylogenetic analyses using nuclear 18S rRNA, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, 12S rRNA, tRNA^Leu, and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 markers reveal that T. tukubana is closely related to the Palearctic Hemiclepsis Vejdovský, 1884, in which the mid-body somites are triannulate.

To confirm previous findings that hybridization of Caribbean acroporid corals occurred in the recent geologic past, we determined the uranium-thorium (U-Th) ages of two subfossil Acropora prolifera samples collected from nearshore coral death assemblages located off the coast of southeastern Florida. Our results indicate that A, prolifera existed in southeastern Florida during the late Holocene, confirming that Caribbean acroporid hybridization occurred prior to their region-wide die off in the 1970s and 1980s.

The freshwater fishes of Turkey have been studied for more than 150 yr. However, a nation-wide inventory of freshwater fish occurrences in all transboundary river basins (Euphrates–Tigris, Coruh, Kura–Araks, Maritsa and Orontes) has been neither studied nor published. This work is the first extensive study of the composition and biological characteristics of the freshwater fish fauna of the transboundary rivers in Turkey, with special reference to the native and non-native status of species, and the spatial patterns of species e.g., abundance category, endemism, main threats, movement patterns, habitat guild, feeding guild, and reproductive guild. It is determined that a total of 184 fish species in 25 families (including 15 species which are not native, and 30 species are considered as endemic) live in the transboundary river basins in Turkey. Of the 184 fish species: 19 species are abundant, 57 species decrease, and 101 species are data deficient based on IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources). One of the main threats to freshwater fish occurrences in all transboundary river basins are dams. Most fish species in the area are threatened by dams, water extraction, and habitat degradation.

Phlebopus (Boletales) is a genus of Fungi with species characterized by robust basidiomata with glabrous to tomentose or velvety pileus, a central thick and non-reticulated, non-hollow stipe, and an adnate-depressed hymenophore. Their context is variable in color and unchanging or slowly develops a blue reaction when exposed to air. They also have short subglobose to ellipsoid basidiospores that are smooth and possess clamped hyphae. A recent collection in Brazil turned up the rare Neotropical species P. brasiliensis, which is only known from type materials from the original description, and which is only one of six species present in the country. Here, we validate the identity of this species and insure its separation from similar congeners including P. mexicanus. Phlebopus brasiliensis is characterized by the dry velutinous pileus surface that then becomes finely areolate in older basidiomata and with an olivaceous color; hymenophore with small pores to 0.5 mm wide with a context that is cream-colored then greenish-blue on exposure to air, and the absence of hymenial cystidia. Alternatively, Phlebopus mexicanus has slightly smaller basidiospores (average 6.4 × 5 µm), larger pores (1–2 per mm, each 0.5–1 mm diameter) and granulose-pruinate stipe to base. These differences help confirm the identity of P. brasiliensis and also establish its presence in a new location in Brazil i.e., a conservation zone that differs in disturbance from its type locality.

A new species of tubulanid palaeonemertean, Tubulanus izuensis sp. nov., is described as the sixth member of the genus in Japanese waters, based on materials dredged at depths of 244–436 m. It can be differentiated from all the known congeners by the unique burnt-orange dorsal pattern consisting of a median longitudinal stripe and transverse bands on a white ground color. In a maximum-likelihood tree reconstructed with partial sequences of the 16S rRNA, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, and histone H3 genes, Tubulanus was not monophyletic, while T. izuensis sp. nov. was more closely related to the type species T. polymorphusRenier, 1804 than some other congeners including T. punctatus (Takakura, 1898), T. rhabdotusCorrêa, 1954, T. sexlineatus (Griffin, 1898), and T. tamiasKajihara, Kakui, Yamasaki & Hiruta, 2015.

Costapex baldwinae, new species, is described from deep reef habitats of the southern and eastern Caribbean Sea, including Curaçao, Dominica and Guadeloupe, where it occurs at bathyal depths on sunken wood. It is assigned to the genus Costapex based on phylogenetic analyses using partial sequences of COI, 12S and 16S mitochondrial genes that reveal it to be the sister species of two Indo-Pacific members of this genus. This new species most closely resembles Costapex martinorum (Cernohorsky, 1986) from the Philippines, but differs in being smaller, and in having a slightly lower spire and more prominently beaded spiral sculpture. Of the Caribbean species of costellariids, it is somewhat similar to Nodicostellaria laterculata (Sowerby II, 1874), which occurs in shallower water and has a white or tan rather than dark brown shell, and also a taller spire, more prominent axial sculpture, and a more rounded aperture. It differs from Vexillum styria (Dall, 1889), with which it co-occurs, in having a broader shell with a lower spire, prosocline rather than opisthocline axial ribs, and more prominent, strongly beaded spiral cords. Costapex baldwinae differs from both these taxa in having rachidian teeth with three cusps rather than five cusps (N. laterculata) or seven cusps (V. styria). The genus Costapex was previously known only from Indo-Pacific species. The discovery of this new species represents a significant expansion of the range of this genus into the Caribbean Sea.