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Seven new species of the giant pill-millipede genus Zoosphaerium Pocock, 1895 are described from Madagascar: Z. nigrum sp. nov., Z. silens sp. nov., Z. ambatovaky sp. nov., Z. beanka sp. nov., Z. voahangy sp. nov., Z. masoala sp. nov. and Z. spinopiligerum sp. nov. All species are described based on drawings and scanning electron microscopy, while genetic barcoding of the COI gene was successful for six of the seven new species. Additional COI barcode information is provided for the first time for Z. album Wesener, 2009 and Z. libidinosum (de Saussure & Zehntner, 1897). Zoosphaerium nigrum sp. nov. and Z. silens sp. nov. belong to the Z. libidinosum species-group, Z. ambatovaky sp. nov. to the Z. coquerelianum species-group, Z. beanka sp. nov., Z. voahangy sp. nov. and Z. masoala sp. nov. to the Z. platylabum species-group and Z. spinopiligerum sp. nov. to the Z. piligerum species-group. Updated identification keys are provided for each species-group. Two western dry forest species, Z. silens sp. nov. and Z. voahangy sp. nov. are recorded from two localities, while the other five species are currently only known from their type localities. Of special conservation concern might be Z. ambatovaky sp. nov. from the lowland rainforest fragment of Ambatovaky, a nowadays isolated lowland rainforest, rapidly shrinking due to slash and burn agriculture. In addition to the new species, new locality data is provided for 11 species and numerous unidentifiable species of Zoosphaerium: Z. neptunus (Butler, 1872), Z. platylabum (de Saussure & Zehntner, 1902) and Z. piligerum (de Saussure & Zehntner, 1897) from the central eastern montane forests, as well as Z. ambrense Wesener, 2009, Z. aureum Wesener, 2009, Z. libidinosum, Z. corystoides Wesener, 2009, Z. discolor Wesener, 2009, Z. smaragdinum Wesener, 2009, Z. villosum Wesener & Sierwald, 2005 and Microsphaerotherium anjozorobe Wesener, 2009.
The taxonomy of ribbon worms (Nemertea) is particularly challenging due to the sparsity of distinct morphological characters, causing a significant underestimation of the group’s true diversity. The number of named deep-sea species is very limited and there is a vast number of undescribed deep-sea nemerteans still to be discovered. In this paper we figuratively ‘cut the ribbon’ and name seven new species of monostiliferous hoplonemerteans from seeps and seamounts along the Costa Rican margin, one from seeps along the Oregon margin, and one from vents of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, USA. The species Chernyshevia escarpiaphila gen. et sp. nov. and five species of the genus Alvinonemertes gen. nov. (Alvinonemertes dariae gen. et sp. nov., Alvinonemertes dagmarae gen. et sp. nov., Alvinonemertes christianeae gen. et sp. nov., Alvinonemertes claudiae gen. et sp. nov., Alvinonemertes tatjanae gen. et sp. nov.) represent Oerstediina, whereas the three species Tetrastemma sundbergi sp. nov., Tetrastemma polyakovae sp. nov., and Tetrastemma strandae sp. nov. represent Amphiporina. One species of tubulanid palaeonemerteans is described but not provided with a species name due to lacking sequence data for comparison. Additionally, we provide sequence data for one lineid heteronemertean, one reptant hoplonemertean, and two further eumonostiliferan hoplonemertean species. We use an integrative, turbotaxonomic approach combining DNA sequence data with concise morphological descriptions and fully digitized serial histological sections made available as cybertypes.
