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The Western Ghats of India is considered one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world. Documenting scorpion diversity has always been of paramount importance due to their species richness, ecological role and endemism, which calls for conservation priority. Scorpion diversity of the Western Ghats is probably underestimated given the ancestry of the group, and more field work in the region is very likely to uncover numerous undescribed taxa. Several new Indian species have recently been discovered in the scorpion genus Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Scorpiones: Buthidae). In this communication, we resurrect I. sankeriensis Tikader & Bastawade, 1983 and describe two new species from the Western Ghats of India, I. nakshatra sp. nov. and I. wayanadensis sp. nov., using an integrative taxonomic approach. In order to replace the lost holotype of I. sankeriensis, we designate a neotype and reassess the identity of this species. This work elevates the number of species of Isometrus found in India to eight and we expect many more scorpion discoveries from India with continued research.
Deep-sea ophiuroids were collected by the manned submersible ‘Shenhaiyongshi’ from the South China Sea at depths of 500–3550 m, in 2017 to 2020. A total of 18 species were identified, including three new species and eight new records, increasing the total number of species known from the South China Sea to 304. Most of the ophiuroids recorded from the South China Sea were found in shallow waters (77.9%) and a few of them occurred only in deep water (20.4%). Three new species are described as Ophiacantha aster sp. nov., Ophiomoeris petalis sp. nov. and Ophiopristis shenhaiyongshii sp. nov. We provide comprehensive descriptions of morphological features, including characteristics of the arm skeletons, and a phylogenetic analysis based on COI and 16S sequences. Overall intraspecific and interspecific genetic distance variations among the families found in this study were 0.5% to 2.47% and 1.16% to 44.16%, respectively, along the South Pacific region to the South China Sea. Our phylogenetic analysis suggested that COI partial genes resolved the interspecies complexity in the class Ophiuroidea better than 16S partial genes. The order Euryalida had low interspecies genetic distance variation within the class Ophiuroidea. The present study suggests a high probability that species of Asteroschema and Gorgonocephalus are more widely spread around the Indo-Pacific region than previously expected.
The status of five genera recognized within subfamily Buccininae (Buccinidae) is critically re-assessed based on the molecular phylogenetic analysis of the cox-1, 16S, and 28S gene fragments. Our results suggest restoring Volutharpa P. Fischer, 1856 from synonymy of Buccinum and we also consider Plicibuccinum Golikov & Gulbin, 1977 as valid genus. New molecular data provide further support for the synonimization of Bathybuccinum Golikov & Sirenko, 1988 with Buccinum Linnaeus, 1758. Furthermore, our data demonstrate that Thysanobuccinum Golikov #38; Gulbin in Golikov, 1980 and Ovulatibuccinum Golikov & Sirenko, 1988 as currently construed are nested within Buccinum and their subgeneric rank is not confirmed. Therefore, we synonymize these genera with Buccinum. In the absence of molecular data the monotypic genus Corneobuccinum Golikov & Gulbin, 1977 is provisionally considered valid. Two new species, Buccinum hasegawai sp. nov. and B. bizikovi sp. nov. are described from the Kurile Islands; these species were previously erroneously identified as Bathybuccinum bombycinum (Dall, 1907) and Ovulatibuccinum ovulum (Dall, 1907), respectively. New replacement names are proposed for the secondary junior homonym Buccinum perlatum (Fraussen & Chino, 2009) and the primary junior homonyms Buccinum coronatum Golikov, 1980 and Buccinum costatum Golikov 1980.