A new horsehair worm, Chordodes formosanus sp. n. (Nematomorpha, Gordiida) from Hierodula mantids of Taiwan and Japan with redescription of a closely related species, Chordodes japonensis

A new species of horsehair worm, Chordodes formosanussp. n., is described and compared to a closely related species, Chordodes japonensis. Although both species possess the same six cuticular structures of areoles on the surface, the significantly longer filaments on the female crowned areoles can be used as diagnostic characters for the new species. The different taxonomic status of these two species was also confirmed after analyzing the partial cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequence, and the mantid hosts, which are respectively limited to the genus Tenodera for Chordodes japonensis and Hierodula for Chordodes formosanussp. n. In addition, the immature stages of eggs and larvae of the new species are also described and discussed in detail.     

Cuticular ultrastructure of Chordodes nobilii Camerano, 1901, with a comparison of cuticular ultrastructure in horsehair worms (Nematomorpha)

The cuticle of Chordodes nobilii Camerano, 1901 is composed of a proximal layer with about 30 sheets of large fibers in alternating orientations and a distal layer, which mainly forms the surface structures, the areoles. The three different types of areoles, simple, tubercle and crowned areoles, are formed mainly by material of strong and medium electron density. The tubercle areoles have a basal constriction and paired spherical structures of unknown function below the base. Irregularly distributed are paired, cushion-like structures, from which projections traverse the cuticle and run into the epidermis. In the crowned areoles, these cushions also send projections into the apical filaments. A comparison with the few ultrastructurally described cuticles from other species reveals some similarities between the cuticles of C. nobilii and Paragordius varius, making it probable that the cushion-like structures are homologous. However, Pseudochordodes bedriagae, which is more closely related to Chordodes than Paragordius, lacks the cushions. Problematic is the interpretation of different cuticular structures in Gordius. If correctly determined, areoles are present in some Gordius species and resemble in their structure areoles from other species. If areoles have to be regarded as homologous, the absence of a distal layer and areoles would have to be interpreted as a secondary reduction in species such as Gordius aquaticus.     

Taxonomic remarks about Semiclivina (Kult, 1947) new status, with description of Uroclivina subgen. n., and of two new species from South America (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Scaritinae, Clivinini)

The subgenus Semiclivina Kult, 1947 of Clivina Latreille, 1802 (sensu lato) has been re-ranked as a genus, with the most readily observed feature being the stridulation organ of the proepisterna and front femora. A group of species within Semiclivina is characterized by a peculiar acute tubercle at the posterior margin of the eye, which corresponds to an equally noticeable incision of the anterior margin of the pronotum. This group is considered as monophyletic and placed as such in the subgen. n.Uroclivina. The species Semiclivina (Uroclivina) bergerisp. n. from Argentina and southern Brazil and Semiclivina (Uroclivina) schmidisp. n. from French Guyana are described. The following additional species are included in Uroclivina: Clivina urophthalmoides (Kult, 1947) new combination, Clivina urophthalma (Putzeys, 1863) new combination, and Clivina oxyomma (Putzeys, 1868) new combination. The two subgenera of Semiclivina Kult, and the current five species of Uroclivina are differentiated in a key.     

Scanning electron microscopy and intraspecific variation of Chordodes festae Camerano, 1897 and C. peraccae (Camerano, 1894) (Nematomorpha: Gordioidea)

The nematomorph species Chordodes festae Camerano, 1897 and C. peraccae (Camerano, 1894) are redescribed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). C. festae has a cuticle with four different areolar types, the crown areoles being the most noticeable with long spiniform processes. The terminal end in the male specimen has two short lobe-like structures and a ventral groove. C. peraccae has three areolar types in which, as in C. festae, some areoles form groups surrounding the crown areoles. Intraspecific variations were found in body length and body colour in both species and, in C. peraccae, also in the cuticle.     

Two Human Cases Infected by the Horsehair Worm, Parachordodes sp. (Nematomorpha: Chordodidae), in Japan

The present study was performed to describe 2 human cases infected by the horsehair worm, Parachordodes sp., in Japan. Two gordiid worms were collected in the vomit and excreta of an 80-year-old woman in November 2009 in Kyoto city, and in the mouth of 1-year-old boy in December 2009 in Nara city, Japan, respectively. Both worms were males having bifurcated posterior ends and male gonads in cross sectional specimens. They were identified as Parachordodes sp. (Nematomorpha: Chordodidae) based on the characteristic morphologies of cross sections and areoles in the cuticle. DNA analysis on 18S rRNA partial sequence arrangements was also carried out and both worms were assumed to be close to the genus Paragordionus based on tree analysis, and far from Gordius sp. which has already been reported in humans in Japan. DNA sequencing of the Parachordodes worm does not appear on the database; therefore, more information on the gene sequences of the genus Parachordodes from humans, animals, or intermediates is required.     

New taxa and revisionary systematics of alcyonacean octocorals from the Pacific coast of North America (Cnidaria,Anthozoa)

A taxonomic assessment of four species of octocorals from the northeastern Pacific Ocean (British Columbia to California) is provided. Included here are a new species of clavulariid stolonifieran Cryptophyton, a new species of the nephtheid soft coral Gersemia, an undetermined species of soft coral in the genus Alcyonium that has been referred in the literature by several other names, and a new genus is named for a plexaurid sea fan originally described in the Indo-Pacific genus Euplexaura. Discussions are included that compare the species to related taxa, or provide revisionary assessments.     

New earthworm species of the genus Amynthas Kinberg, 1867 from Thailand (Clitellata, Oligochaeta, Megascolecidae)

Four new species of terrestrial earthworms from the zebrus-group in the genus Amynthas Kinberg, 1867, are described from Nan province, north Thailand: Amynthas phatubensissp. n., from Tham Pha Tub Arboretum, Amynthas tontongsp. n., from Tontong Waterfall, Amynthas borealissp. n., from Chaloemprakiat district, and Amynthas srinansp. n., from Srinan National Park.After comparing with the two closely related Laos species Amynthas chandyi Hong, 2008 and Amynthas namphouinensis Hong, 2008, the four new species show clear morphological differences, and also it is confirmed that there are no previous records of the species described here. Amynthas phatubensissp. n. is the largest (longest) sized of these earthworms and is the only species that lives in limestone habitats. The genital characters are different among them and also from the two Laotian species. Molecular systematics would be a good method for further analysis of the diversity and species boundaries in SE Asian Amynthas.     

Description of Gordionus porosus n. sP. and redescription of Gordionus ondulatus (Nematomorpha, parachordodinae) with scanning electron microscopy

Two hairworms from Argentina, Gordionus porosus n. sp. and Gordionus ondulatus (Nematomorpha, Gordioidea), are described and illustrated. The cuticle of both species shows only 1 areolar type. Areoles of G. porosus are polygonal and surrounded by minute bristles and the interareolar groove is wide and with large pores. Gordionus ondulatus is characterized by rectangular or irregular areoles from which margins cuticular elongations project as finger-like structures, giving an undulated appearance. Comparing these species to the remaining American species of Gordionus, G. porosus is close to Gordionus violaceus by virtue of the large number of small bristles surrounding the areoles and can be distinguished by the shape of these bristles and by the arrangement and shape of the areoles. Gordionus ondulatus differs from the other species of the genus by its undulating margins. Giordinus lineatus and Giordinus violaceus have been reported in North America, Giordinus platycephalus in North and Central America, Giordinus capitosulcatus in Central America, and Giordinus prismaticus, G. ondulatus, and G. porosus only in South America.     

A new opuntioid cactus from the Cayman Islands, B.W.I., with a discussion and key to the genus Consolea Lemaire

A new subspecies ofConsolea millspaughii is described from the eastern bluff of Cayman Brac and northern coastal terrace of Little Cayman (Cayman Islands, British West Indies). This taxon has been mistakenly identified asConsolea spinosissima since its first collection in 1938. However, the smooth surface of its stem segments, not being demarcated by a network of depressed lines, its pitted areoles, and the fairly reduced pedicellate area of the pericarpel set is apart from this Jamaican endemic. Because the novelty here described brings to three the number ofConsolea taxa that are characterized by very closely set, pitted areoles, an informal “C. millspaughii species-group” is recognized. This assemblage of Western Caribbean opuntioids includesConsolea corallicola, C. millspaughii subsp.millspaughii, andC. millspaughii subsp.caymannnsis. The new subspecies is described, illustrated, and compared withC. spinosissima and with kindred taxa within the species-group. A key to all species and subspecies ofConsolea is provided.     

Dubinectes infirmus, a new species of deep-water Munnopsidae (Crustacea, Isopoda, Asellota) from the Argentine Basin, South Atlantic Ocean

Dubinectes infirmussp. n., Munnopsidae, is described from the Argentine Basin, southwest Atlantic, at depths between 4586-4607 m. The new species is distinguished by a narrow rim of the pleotelson posterior margin which is not raising over its dorsal surface; article 3 of the antennula is subequal in length to article 2; distomedial lobes of male pleopod 1 are of same size as distolateral lobes; stylet of male pleopod 2 is subequal in length to protopod; uropod exopod is more than a half of endopod length. Some generic characters which are weakly pronounced in the new species or have different state are defined more precisely in the revised diagnosis of Dubinectes. The modified diagnosis of the genus, a key to the species of Dubinectes as well as the distribution of the genus are presented.     

Review of the genus Plistobunus Pocock, 1903, with description of a new species from Hainan Island, China (Opiliones, Laniatores, Epedanidae)

The genus Plistobunus Pocock, 1903 and its type species Plistobunus rapax Pocock, 1903 are redescribed based on the type material deposited in the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH), London. In addition, a new Plistobunus species from Hainan Island is described and illustrated of Plistobunus columnariussp. n. The new species is diagnosed by having a row of 12 setiferous tubercles on anterior margin of carapace, and the femur of pedipalpus ventrally with 13 setiferous tubercles in male.     

Two remarkable new species of Penicillata (Diplopoda, Polyxenida) from Table Mountain National Park (Cape Town, South Africa)

Two new species of the families Polyxenidae and Synxenidae, are described from Table Mountain National Park, South Africa. Propolyxenus squamatussp. n. (Polyxenidae) has tergites I-X mostly covered by scale-shaped trichomes directed caudally, a character previously known only in Synxenidae. The structure of scale-shaped dorsal trichomes is different to that of the scales in Phryssonotus and Condexenus species. Phryssonotus brevicapensissp. n. (Synxenidae) is the only known species of the genus Phryssonotus having 11 tergites, (including collum and telson) and 15 pairs of legs, as in Condexenus biramipalpus Nguyen Duy-Jacquemin, 2006. These two species therefore appear to occupy an intermediate position between Phryssonotus (12 tergites) and Polyxenoidea (maximum of 11 tergites).     

Two new species of gorgonian octocorals from the Tropical Eastern Pacific Biogeographic Region (Cnidaria,Anthozoa, Gorgoniidae)

The gorgoniid Eugorgia is exclusively an eastern Pacific genus. It has a wide geographic and bathymetric range of distribution, found from California to Perú and extends down to 65 m deep. Two new species are herein described. The morphological characters were analyzed and illustrated by light and scanning electron microscopy. Eugorgia beebei sp. n. can be distinguished by its white, ascending, sparse colony growth. Eugorgia mutabilis sp. n. can be distinguished by its white colony that changes color after collection, and the conspicuous sharp-crested disc sclerites. From a morphological point of view the new species are related to the daniana-group, the rubens-group and the siedenburgae-group of Eugorgia; their affiliations, and the proposal of a new group are discussed. These new species increases the number of species in the genus to 15, and contribute to the knowledge of the eastern Pacific octocoral biodiversity.     

The dazed and confused identity of Agassiz's land tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (Testudines, Testudinidae) with the description of a new species, and its consequences for conservation

We investigate a cornucopia of problems associated with the identity of the desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (Cooper). The date of publication is found to be 1861, rather than 1863. Only one of the three original cotypes exists, and it is designated as the lectotype of the species. Another cotype is found to have been destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire. The third is lost. The lectotype is genetically confirmed to be from California, and not Arizona, USA as sometimes reported. Maternally, the holotype of Gopherus lepidocephalus (Ottley & Velázques Solis. 1989) from the Cape Region of Baja California Sur, Mexico is also from the Mojavian population of the desert tortoise, and not from Tiburon Island, Sonora, Mexico as previously proposed. A suite of characters serve to diagnose tortoises west and north of the Colorado River, the Mojavian population, from those east and south of the river in Arizona, USA, and Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico, the Sonoran population. Species recognition is warranted and because Gopherus lepidocephalus is from the Mojavian population, no names are available for the Sonoran species. Thus, a new species, Gopherus morafkaisp. n., is named and this action reduces the distribution of Gopherus agassizii to only 30% of its former range. This reduction has important implications for the conservation and protection of Gopherus agassizii, which may deserve a higher level of protection.