Anoplocephalidae (Cestoda: Cyclophyllidea) is a diverse family, with the subfamily Anoplocephalinae comprising 59 genera that primarily parasitize the digestive tract of rodents and birds. Monoecocestus threlkeldi was originally described from the northern vizcacha, Lagidium peruanum, in Junin, Peru, and subsequently reported in cricetids (Holochilus spp.) in Argentina and Bolivia. In the present study, we describe a new species of the genus Monoecocestus parasitizing the southern vizcacha, Lagidium viscacia, based on specimens collected in Puno, Peru, at an elevation of 3932 m a. s. l. A total of 45 specimens of the new species were obtained and processed for morphological and molecular analysis. For molecular analysis, DNA sequences of three markers were generated: the nuclear 18S, 28S, ITS, and mitochondrial cox1. The molecular data were compared with sequences available in GenBank, confirming its inclusion in the genus Monoecocestus. Morphologically, the new species is similar to M. threlkeldi, but it can be distinguished by its smaller body size, scolex, cirrus pouch, and number of proglottides. The description of the new species Monoecocestus viscaciae improves our understanding of the diversity of cestodes in high-altitude Andean ecosystems and provides new insights into host specificity within the genus Lagidium.

A new species of Calicotyle (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) is described from three deepwater catshark species (Elasmobranchii: Pentanchidae) collected off Iceland. Calicotyle carmenae n. sp. is diagnosed as a species of Calicotyle possessing a haptor with one central and seven peripheral loculi, two hamuli, and several hooklets. It is distinguished from all congeners by the absence of eye spots, having a once-looped male copulatory organ, two U-shaped vaginae, and intercaecal vaginal pores. A molecular phylogenetic analysis based on 28S ribosomal DNA sequences placed Calicotyle carmenae n. sp. within a clade of other Calicotyle species infecting selachians and holocephalans, while revealing clear genetic divergence from these congeners (8.2–11.1%; 74–99 bp). In addition, the morphology and host specificity of C. carmenae and its congeners are discussed. Some inconsistencies and insufficiently described anatomical features in other species of the subfamily Calicotylinae are highlighted, which evidence a need for a revision of this taxon. The study also provides the first record of a species of Calicotyle from pentanchid sharks, highlighting the potential for further discoveries as research expands into different hosts and deeper, underexplored marine ecosystems.

Despite several recent studies, the helminth diversity of small mammals in South Africa remains poorly understood. During a survey conducted from 2023 to 2025 on the helminth assemblages of rodents in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, nematodes were collected from the stomach of a female Micaelamys namaquensis in the Nama-Karoo biome. For one of the nematode species identified, morphological characters, based on light and electron microscopy, corresponded to the genus Gastronodus: a short, heavily sclerotized buccal capsule armed with 6 teeth, the presence of 3 pairs of pedunculate postcloacal papillae as well as dissimilar and unequal spicules in males and a vulva situated at the level of the glandular oesophagus in females. The presence of 3, rather than 2, pairs of postcloacal pedunculate papillae distinguishes our specimens from the closely related genera Cylicospirura, Skrjabinocercina and Spirocerca. Furthermore, the presence of 4–5 vs 6–7 pairs of pedunculate precloacal papillae distinguishes them from their single currently recognized congener, Gastronodus strasseni sampled from Suncus murinus in India. Based on these results, we here describe Gastronodus karooensis n. sp. Phylogenetic analyses of the mtDNA cox1 gene suggest some affiliation with the genus Spirocerca and provide some support for their placement in the Spirocercidae. This is the first record of the genus Gastronodus in Africa. The description of a new species of Spirocercidae from M. namaquenis highlights the need for further studies as the nematode diversity in wild hosts in South Africa is currently underestimated.

Population genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA barcodes, comprised of a standard segment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI or cox1), was conducted on Spoladea recurvalis (Fabricius), an important agricultural pest commonly referred to as the Hawaiian beet webworm. Results of genetic diversity analyses indicate significant population structure between samples mainly from Australia and nearby regions and those from North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Adults of the two groups are morphologically indistinguishable but are characterised by diagnostic barcode nucleotides and genetic diversity values. Factors possibly involved in driving genetic divergence in S. recurvalis in the Australian region are briefly discussed.

Ferrisia dasylirii (Cockerell) (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) is a polyphagous mealybug species and native to North America, but has spread to Asia and Africa. In this study, we report F. dasylirii for the first time from China using an integrated taxonomy approach combining morphological characters and molecular analyses of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene. It was found on 12 tropical fruit species in Hainan Province: Annonaceae: Annona squamosa L. and A. squamosa ‘Purple’; Myrtaceae: Eugenia brasiliensis Lam. and Psidium guajava L.; Malvaceae: Theobroma cacao Linn.; Lecythidaceae: Lecythis pisonis Cambess.; Sapotaceae: Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni and P. sapota (Jacq.) H.E.Moore & Stearn; Rubiaceae: Coffea liberica W. Bull ex Hiern; Cunoniaceae: Davidsonia pruriens F. Muell; Arecaceae: Areca catechu Linn.; Musaceae: Musa nana Lour.; Malpighiaceae: Malpighia emarginata Sesse & Noc.ex DC.; and Phyllanthaceae: Phyllanthus emblica Linn. This record increases the known geographic range of F. dasylirii and underscores the importance of combined morphological and molecular approaches for accurate mealybug identification.

Colombellinidae is an extinct family of marine gastropods occurring in carbonate facies from the Middle Jurassic to the lowermost Upper Cretaceous, primarily in Europe and rarely in Asia. Members of the family are characterized by thick, oval shells with a narrow aperture bearing anterior and posterior canals, a thickened peristome and a denticulate outer lip. Colombellinids share several shell characters with representatives of Cypraeoidea, including a narrow, elongated aperture, but unlike cypraeids, their shells are not convolute. Based on a comprehensive revision of all described species, the taxonomy of Colombellinidae is clarified, and the family is restricted to only two genera: Colombellina d’Orbigny, 1842, and Zittelia Gemmellaro, 1869. One new species, Colombellina crassigranulata sp. nov., from the Upper Jurassic of Bulgaria, and one new genus, Wadeina gen. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of Tennessee, USA – with a type species previously included in Colombellinidae but here assigned to the family Personidae (Tonnoidea) – are described. The distribution of the family and associated facies indicates a preference for shallow marine carbonate environments, while their low abundance may indicate a carnivorous mode of life. A comparison of Colombellinidae with Tonnoidea, Cypraeoidea and Purpurinidae sheds a new light on the phylogenetic relationships of these groups and supports the interpretation of Colombellinidae as a stem or sister group of Cypraeoidea. This study contributes to a refined systematics of Jurassic–Cretaceous gastropods and provides new evidence for the early diversification of higher caenogastropods.

During a helminthological survey conducted in the southern Peruvian Amazon, nematodes representing an undescribed species of Aplectana Railliet & Henry, 1916 (Cosmocercidae) were recovered from the intestine of Leptodactylus bolivianus Boulenger, 1898 (Anura: Leptodactylidae). The new species, Aplectana peruensis n. sp., is described herein based on an integrative taxonomic approach combining detailed morphological analysis using light and scanning electron microscopy with molecular characterization of the partial 18S rDNA gene. Aplectana peruensis n. sp. is distinguished from its congeners by a unique combination of characters, including 13 pairs of caudal papillae (3 precloacal, 5 adcloacal, and 5 poscloacal papillae) plus a single unpaired papilla, the presence of a gubernaculum, and relatively long spicules (152–194) with a clearly defined distal bifurcation. Phylogenetic analyses based on Bayesian inference methods recovered the new species as a well-supported sister lineage to A. hylambatis (Baylis, 1927) from the Neotropical region. Genetic divergence values further support its specific distinctiveness. This study represents the first description of an Aplectana species from L. bolivianus in the Amazon region of Peru and increases the number of recognized species within the genus.

The crustose cyanolichen Fuscopannaria frullaniae (syn. Moelleropsis nebulosa subsp. frullaniae) is a poorly understood taxon that occurs on mosses and liverworts, described from eastern Canada and reported from the Iberian Peninsula, Macaronesia and the eastern USA. Originally placed in the genus Moelleropsis, the position of the species has been debated in the absence of sexual fruiting structures and, until now, DNA sequences from the fungal symbiont. We produced nine sequences from two fungal ribosomal loci from F. frullaniae collected at five different localities in Nova Scotia, Canada and North Carolina, USA. Initial BLASTn queries against public databases revealed high similarity between these sequences and basidiomycete sequences from the Dictyonema clade in Hygrophoraceae, specifically from the genus Acantholichen. We did not obtain ascomycete sequences from any locus or specimen. Phylogenetic analyses recovered the obtained sequences within the broader Acantholichen clade. We conclude that the lichen fungal symbiont is in fact a basidiomycete and introduce for it the new combination Acantholichen frullaniae. Acantholichen frullaniae is the first species of the genus to possess a granular, crustose thallus. The species lacks the characteristic, spiny, balloon-shaped cells called acanthohyphidia that are found in other species of the genus, though it possesses similar, albeit spineless cells on the surface of thallus granules; we suggest that these structures within the wider genus are homologous and represent spiny or smooth cystidia. Numerous samples yielded evidence of basidiospores and basidia produced from thallus granules, evident only after treatment with diluted potassium hydroxide, representing the first sexual structures reported in the genus. We discuss the possible reasons for this, as well as the ecology and threats to the species across its Canadian populations.

Two Late Ordovician cornulitid species, Cornulites richmondensis (Miller, 1874) and Cornulites hemistriatus new species, from the Ellis Bay and Vaureal formations of Anticosti Island, eastern Canada, are each shown in this study to have a thick, punctate, cross-bladed lamellar, calcitic conch wall, a crested fold, a septate juvenile part, and endoconic chamber deposit. These Late Ordovician, free-living (i.e., nonencrusting) forms of Cornulites Schlotheim, 1820 have characters intermediate between Cornulites and the late Silurian-Devonian forms of Tentaculites Schlotheim, 1820, particularly by having incipient inner layers and poorly fused annuli, but lacking cornulitid-type vesicular microstructures. The described cornulitids are similar to brachiopods in their cross-bladed lamellae and pseudopunctae, but their lamellar layers are considerably finer and much less distinct than those of brachiopod shells.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/0694caa5-ed07-4bd7-a911-5cfa90b1d4e3

Marine tardigrades are known from all oceans. However, Euclavarctinae (Halechiniscidae) is the only family-group taxon exclusive to the deep sea. We describe a new genus and species of this taxon, Ranarctus kondoi gen. et sp. nov. The new genus and species was sorted from a sediment sample collected at a locality north of Kuroshima island, Kerama Islands, Okinawa, Japan (water depth: 596–606 m) during a T/RV Toyoshiomaru cruise (Hiroshima University) in 2003. It does not completely conform to the subfamily’s diagnosis as in the case of Parmursa by its aliform expansions, trapezoid head, and primary clava and lateral cirrus sharing a common pedestal. Aside from these similarities, Ranarctus gen. nov. differs from Parmursa by its wrinkled aliform expansions lacking ribs, cephalic cirri’s constant-width scapi, and internal digits longer than external ones.

ZooBank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F096F6D5-0A25-4E99-8258-767550931186.

A new species of spionid polychaete from the coastal waters of southwest India, Trochochaeta chakara sp. nov., is described and illustrated. Adults are common on Alappuzha mud banks (locally known as Chakara) off the coast of Kerala. They live in silty tubes in soft sediment and are characterized by the presence of two pairs of red eyes, caruncle extending to end of chaetiger 1, heavy falcate spines in neuropodia of chaetigers 2 and 3 (those in chaetiger 3 much stronger and darker), capillary chaetae in notopodia of chaetigers 1, 3–10, frayed heavy spines in neuropodia of chaetigers 4–13, hirsute capillaries in neuropodia from chaetiger 14, lateral interneuropodial membranes from chaetiger 14, one pair of ventral papillae on each chaetiger from chaetigers 14–16, bundles of acicular spines in notopodia from chaetigers 50–52, and small pygidium with up to six pairs of short cirri. This is the third species of Trochochaeta described and found in the Indian Ocean, including T. orissae (Fauvel, 1932) and T. cirrifera (Hartman, 1975).

The genus Strongyloides (Nematoda; Strongyloididae) comprises over 50 species of nematodes parasitic in terrestrial vertebrates, including humans (Homo sapiens), dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and cats (Felis catus). Taxonomy of the genus has been shaped by over a century of morphological research, with the most widely adopted framework established in the late 1980s. Advances in molecular genetics have increasingly revealed cryptic diversity and yielded new insights into interspecific and intraspecific relationships within the genus. Despite the rapid expansion of molecular genetic data over the past decade, particularly for Strongyloides spp. infecting humans and companion animals, a synthesis of these findings remains lacking. Here, we review historical and contemporary literature on the taxonomy of Strongyloides spp. infecting humans (Strongyloides stercoralis, Strongyloides fuelleborni), dogs (S. stercoralis, including host-specific lineages and cryptic taxa) and cats (Strongyloides felis, Strongyloides planiceps, Strongyloides tumefaciens and S. stercoralis). We provide an updated overview of taxonomic histories, host ranges and key morphological features for genus identification and species differentiation, along with a synthesis of available molecular taxonomic data informed by phylogenetic and population genetic studies. This work is intended to serve as a renewed reference for researchers, diagnosticians and clinicians working with Strongyloides spp. in medical and veterinary contexts, supporting accurate diagnosis and guiding future taxonomic research on these nematodes.

The family Yoldiidae encompasses protobranch bivalves with notable diversity in deep-sea habitats, with Yoldiella Verrill and Bush (1897) as the most speciose genus. In Brazilian waters, 11 species of Yoldiella have been recorded, including Yoldiella lapernoi Benaim and Absalão (2011) and Yoldiella paranapuensis Benaim and Absalão (2011), two species with similar shell morphology and overlapping geographical distributions. This study re-evaluated the taxonomic distinction between these two Yoldiella species using a combination of morphometric approaches. Size and growth rate comparisons were conducted using analysis of covariance and Bayesian model selection. The shell outline was compared using elliptical Fourier descriptors. The results did not support the current separation of these taxa. Instead, they reveal that the observed morphological differences are attributable to ontogenetic variation, indicating Y. paranapuensis as a juvenile stage of Y. lapernoi. This finding supports the synonymy of these two nominal species and highlights the importance of ontogenetic context in taxonomy.