Invertebrate Systematics of the Americas and Beyond: Spotlight for ICIM-6
Delimiting and describing the deep-sea diversity would help its conservation. Squat lobsters are among the most abundant and diverse decapods in the East Pacific abyssal depths. Here, we described new species recently collected in deep-sea cruises using remotely operated vehicles. We also report new records that increase the species’ known geographic ranges and help to understand dispersal in the deep ocean. Our results show that abyssal species present lower genetic diversity and a wider geographic range than previously thought, conforming with traditional hypotheses of cosmopolitanisms in abyssal species.
Exploration of understudied areas is often an important way to discover new species diversity. Guangxi is part of the Chinese portion of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot housing many endemic freshwater species but regional studies of freshwater mussel diversity are scarce. Here, we report a new endemic freshwater mussel species from Guangxi: Postolata guangxiensis gen. nov., sp. nov. Phylogenetic analyses based on the three-gene data and complete mitochondrial genomes supported the validity of the classification status. Our results provide new insights into the phylogeny and conservation of poorly known freshwater mussels.
We study the morphology, phylogenetic placement and classification of the rare Australian spider Paraplectanoides crassipes Keyserling, 1886. We complement and expand the description of this araneid species and provide the first detailed study of the male palpal homologies using scanning electron micrographs. Our phylogenetic analyses corroborate the sister group relationship between Paraplectanoides and the araneid subfamily Nephilinae. We evaluate a recent proposal for the classification, and restore the familial and subfamilial classification of Araneidae to that present in our recent works that have been based on more extensive analyses and that will result in a more stable classification of Araneidae spiders. (Photograph by Gustavo Hormiga.)
The globally distributed pseudoscorpion family Garypinidae is included with the family Larcidae in a unique superfamily, Garypinoidea but there are no phylogenetic hypotheses for the group. Sequence data were obtained for 14 species in 8 genera, and numerous outgroup taxa that allowed for a preliminary molecular phylogeny. A new subfamily classification is proposed within Garypininae and includes two new subfamilies, Protogarypininae and Amblyolpiinae.
Gastrotricha (hairy-bellied worms) is a phylum of microscopic aquatic invertebrates whose traditional morphology-based classification has been challenged in recent years. We report a new genus and species found using an integrative morphological and molecular approach, which is unrelated to morphologically similar species in the genera Aspidiophorus and Heterolepidoderma. The mitochondrial genome of the new taxon has the same number of genes and gene order as the only other gastrotrich mitogenome available, suggesting the conservation of mitochondria at the family level. (Image credit: M. Antonio Todaro.)
The Antarctic feather star Promachocrinus kerguelensis arguably comprises several species but taxonomic revision has not been attempted. Here we use DNA data and morphological characters to differentiate the species and formally described those that are new. The species complex was resolved into eight species, four of which are newly described, though not all can be reliably distinguished based on morphology. One of the new species has a restricted distribution, but the remainder appear to be circum-Antarctic.
Velvet worms are soft-bodied organisms, where crypticity and habitat complexity have created poor taxonomic delineations. This study aims to contribute to the taxonomic revisions through the identification of an undescribed ancient novel lineage living in sympatry, at the Riviersonderend Mountains at Oubos, with the known Peripatopsis lawrencei. In this study, we discovered a new velvet worm species, P. aureus sp. nov., and this is described in this paper. (Photograph by Prof. M. D. Picker.)
