A new genus of Stenetriidae Hansen, 1905 (Asellota: Isopoda: Crustacea) from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and the southwestern Pacific

Onychatrium gen. nov. is described, with five included species: Onychatrium forceps sp. nov., the type species and Onychatrium torosus sp. nov., both from the Great Barrier Reef; Onychatrium entale (Nordenstam, 1946) comb. nov., from Tapateuen (= Tabiteue Island), Gilbert Islands; Onychatrium thomasi (Bolstad & Kensley, 1999) comb. nov., from Madang, Papua New Guinea; and Onychatrium echiurum (Nobili, 1906) comb. nov., and species inquirenda from the Tumaotu Islands, Eastern French Polynesia. The primary distinguishing characters for Onychatrium gen. nov. are a trapezoid pseudosrostrum, the male pereopod 1 with elongate dactylus (4.7-7.3 as long as proximal width), propodus with strongly produced and acute lobe, carpus with a distally acute, flat, ventrally directed process (except O. torosus sp. nov., which has a short and truncate process) and the merus with a distally directed inferodistal lobe. The genus is known only from the southern Pacific, from the Tuamotus (eastern French Polynesia) to the Great Barrier Reef and northern Papua New Guinea

A new deep-water species of Myopiarolis Bruce, 2009 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Serolidae) from New Zealand waters

Myopiarolis tona sp. nov. is described from the Challenger Plateau, southern Lord Howe Rise and the west coast of the North Island, New Zealand at depths of 634–1250 m. M. tona sp. nov. can be identified by the prominent posteriorly directed dorsal nodule on fused pereonites 5–7. There are nine species in four genera of the cold-water, epibenthic family Serolidae recorded from New Zealand waters, three species of Myopiarolis Bruce, 2009, one undescribed species of Acutiserolis Brandt, 1988, four of Brucerolis Poore and Storey, 2009 and the monotypic Spinoserolis Brandt, 1988

A new genus of Stenetriidae Hansen, 1905 (Asellota: Isopoda: Crustacea) from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and the southwestern Pacific

Onychatrium gen. nov. is described, with five included species: Onychatrium forceps sp. nov., the type species and Onychatrium torosus sp. nov., both from the Great Barrier Reef; Onychatrium entale (Nordenstam, 1946) comb. nov., from Tapateuen (= Tabiteue Island), Gilbert Islands; Onychatrium thomasi (Bolstad & Kensley, 1999) comb. nov., from Madang, Papua New Guinea; and Onychatrium echiurum (Nobili, 1906) comb. nov., and species inquirenda from the Tumaotu Islands, Eastern French Polynesia. The primary distinguishing characters for Onychatrium gen. nov. are a trapezoid pseudosrostrum, the male pereopod 1 with elongate dactylus (4.7-7.3 as long as proximal width), propodus with strongly produced and acute lobe, carpus with a distally acute, flat, ventrally directed process (except O. torosus sp. nov., which has a short and truncate process) and the merus with a distally directed inferodistal lobe. The genus is known only from the southern Pacific, from the Tuamotus (eastern French Polynesia) to the Great Barrier Reef and northern Papua New Guinea

Revision of the cirolanid isopod genus Odysseylana Malyutina, 1995 (Crustacea) with description of two new species from Singapore

The genus Odysseylana Malyutina, 1995 is revised and a new diagnosis presented; two new species from Singapore are described: Odysseylana sakijang sp. nov. and Odysseylana temasek sp. nov. The monotypic genus Parilcirolana Yu & Li, 2001, is placed in synonymy, bringing total number of species in Odysseylana to four including the type species Odysseylana sirenkoi Malyutina, 1995 and Odysseylana setosa (Yu & Li, 2001) comb. nov. The genus is known only from coastal waters from Singapore to off Macau, western Pacific. The principal distinguishing character of Odysseylana are an elongate body shape (2.9–3.5 long as greatest width), head without a rostral point, pentagonal and flat frontal lamina; antenna peduncle articles 1–3 short, 4 and 5 subequal in length and longest; and pleopod 1 peduncle quadrate, and a slender pleopod 1 endopod

Redescription of three cirolanid isopods (Crustacea: Peracarida) from Indonesia

Three species of Cirolanidae described by Nierstrasz in 1931 are redescribed from the type material: Cirolana indica Nierstrasz, 1931, with new material from Singapore and Lombok Island, Indonesia; C. vanhoeffeni Nierstrasz, 1931; and C. stebbingi Nierstrasz, 1931, which is here transferred to the genus Politolana Bruce, 1981 based on the elongate body, long peduncle of pleopod 1, narrow and slender frontal lamina, flat and robust carpus of pereopod 7, long and acute robust setae on merus–propodus pereopod 1, secondary unguis on dactylus, and antenna peduncle articles 1–2 shorter than the subequal articles 3–5

Review of Mothocya Costa in Hope 1851 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cymothoidae) from southern Africa with the description of a new species

Three species of Mothocya are reported from the east coast of southern Africa: Mothocya plagulophora (Haller, 1880) from Maputo, Mozambique, from the gills of Hemiramphus far (Forsskål, 1775); Mothocya renardi (Bleeker, 1857) from diverse localities in South Africa and Mozambique, from the hosts Strongylura leiura (Bleeker, 1850) and Tylosurus choram (Rüppell, 1837); and Mothocya affinis sp. nov. from Sodwana Bay, South Africa, from the gills of Hyporamphus affinis (Günther, 1866). Mothocya affinis sp. nov. is characterised by relatively small size (maximum 16 mm); large, wide coxae on pereonite 7 that overlap the pleon; uropods that do not extend past the pleotelson posterior margin; produced anterolateral margins on pereonite 1; and a twisted pleon and pleotelson. Mothocya katoi Nunomura, 1992 and Mothocya toyamaensis Nunomura, 1993 are both transferred to the genus Ceratothoa, with M. katoi being placed into junior synonymy with Ceratothoa guttata (Richardson, 1910). Irona ogcocephalus Avdeev & Avdeev, 1974 and I. callionymus Avdeev & Avdeev, 1974 are both transferred to Elthusa, and Irona trillesi Rokicki, 1986 is synonymised with Mothocya longicopa Bruce, 1986. A key to the south-western Indian Ocean species of Mothocya is given, and a table summarising recent and new nomenclatural acts in the genus is provided

Joeropsididae Nordenstam, 1933 (Crustacea, Isopoda, Asellota) from the Lizard Island region of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia

The marine isopod family Joeropsididae (Asellota) is documented for the Lizard Island region of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Fifteen species of Joeropsis are recorded, including ten new species; descriptive notes are provided for five species that lacked adequate material for description. A revised family and genus diagnosis is presented together with comments on the most useful characters for species identification and a key to Joeropsis of the Lizard Island region

The Magnitude of Global Marine Species Diversity

Background: The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine species of the world and used this baseline to estimate how many more species, partitioned among all major eukaryotic groups, may be discovered. Results: There are ∼226,000 eukaryotic marine species described. More species were described in the past decade (∼20,000) than in any previous one. The number of authors describing new species has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of new species described in the past six decades. We report that there are ∼170,000 synonyms, that 58,000–72,000 species are collected but not yet described, and that 482,000–741,000 more species have yet to be sampled. Molecular methods may add tens of thousands of cryptic species. Thus, there may be 0.7–1.0 million marine species. Past rates of description of new species indicate there may be 0.5 ± 0.2 million marine species. On average 37% (median 31%) of species in over 100 recent field studies around the world might be new to science. Conclusions: Currently, between one-third and two-thirds of marine species may be undescribed, and previous estimates of there being well over one million marine species appear highly unlikely. More species than ever before are being described annually by an increasing number of authors. If the current trend continues, most species will be discovered this century

The evolution of epigean and stygobitic species of Koonunga Sayce, 1907 (Syncarida: Anaspidacea) in Southern Australia, with the description of three new species

Three new species of Koonunga were discovered in surface and subterranean waters in southern Australia, and were defined using mtDNA analyses and morphology. The new species are: Koonunga hornei Leijs & King; K. tatiaraensis Leijs & King and K. allambiensis Leijs & King. Molecular clock analyses indicate that the divergence times of the species are older than the landscape that they currently inhabit. Different scenarios explaining this apparent discrepancy are discussed in the context of the palaeography of the area. A freshwater epigean origin for Koonunga is considered the most likely hypothesis, whereby some lineages made the transition to the subterranean environment within the last few million years influenced by significant climatic cooling/drying. We discuss the possibility that one stygobitic lineage secondarily regained some of its body pigmentation as adaptation to increased photic conditions after cave collapse and forming of cenotes during the last glacial maximum.Remko Leijs, Tessa Bradford, James G. Mitchell, William F. Humphreys, Steven J. B. Cooper, Peter Goonan, Rachael A. Kin

The Cirolanidae (Crustacea: Isopoda) of Australia: The Genus Pseudolana from the Queensland Coasts with Description of Three New Species

The cirolanid genus Pseudolana is fully described, as are 4 species, of which 3 are new to science, I having been previously described as Orolana concinna. The relationship of the new genus to other cirolanid genera is discussed. Brief notes are given on the habitat and distribution of the members of the genus