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One of the main challenges to adequately conserve the African fish fauna is to improve our so far unsatisfactory taxonomic knowledge of important portions of the ichthyofauna. In the present study, we attempted to unravel the taxonomic diversity of some species of Enteromius Cope, 1867, a problematic African fish genus, recently collected in the north-eastern part of the Congo basin. We used an integrative approach, combining DNA barcodes and morphological analyses. For one of the species complexes found, the E. miolepis/eutaenia species complex, we evaluated taxonomic diversity over a larger geographic scale within the Congo drainage system. Although initial literature-based species identifications allowed us to assign all examined specimens to four tentative species, DNA barcodes indicated the presence of 23 distinct mitochondrial lineages. The majority of these lineages appeared endemic to particular rivers, and in most rivers multiple lineages occur in sympatry. Subsequent exploratory morphometric analyses indicated that almost all these lineages are morphologically distinguishable and that they may therefore represent undescribed species. As only a part of the Congo basin and a subset of the species diversity within Enteromius were examined, it appears that the species richness of Enteromius in the Congo basin is severely underestimated.
A new species belonging to the crustacean class Remipedia is described from an anchialine cave system on the island of Cozumel (Mexico), and is illustrated and compared morphologically and molecularly (CO1 and 16S) with closely related taxa. Xibalbanus cozumelensis sp. nov., the first remipede described from Cozumel, is morphologically similar to Xibalbanus tulumensis (Yager, 1987) from the Yucatán Peninsula, but the two species are genetically separate from each other (about 10% in CO1). A phylogenetic (Bayesian) analysis of Yucatán remipede populations based on CO1 and 16S placed them in a monophyletic Xibalbanus (in Xibalbanidae fam. nov.), with X. cozumelensis as most closely related to X. tulumensis. The Yucatán Peninsula and Cozumel have been separate since approx. early Cenozoic (~65 Ma), which suggests allopatric speciation for X. cozumelensis sp. nov. and X. tulumensis. However, the comparatively low genetic divergence between the two species may indicate that there has been gene flow between ‘mainland’ Yucatán and Cozumel long after the geological separation of the two landmasses, e.g., in cave systems under the sea bed, either continuously or sporadically, for example during the Last Glacial Maximum when the sea level was about 120 m lower than today.
The species-rich giant pill-millipedes (Sphaerotheriida) often represent a microendemic component of Madagascar’s mega-invertebrate fauna. Of the chirping genus Sphaeromimus de Saussure & Zehntner, 1902, ten species have been described. Here, we describe two new species of Sphaeromimus integratively, combining light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, DNA barcoding and micro-CT technology for the first time in a taxonomic description of a giant pillmillipede. S. kalambatritra sp. nov. and S. midongy sp. nov. are the first giant pill-millipedes collected and described from the mountainous rainforests of Kalambatritra and Midongy. Both species show island gigantism compared to their congeners. Our analysis of the mitochondrial COI gene shows that the two species are related to one another with a moderate genetic distance (9.4%), while they are more closely related to an undetermined specimen from the forest of Vevembe (6.3% and 8.4%). They stand in a basal position with S. ivohibe Wesener, 2014 and S. musicus (de Saussure & Zehntner, 1897). The four aforementioned species share a high number of stridulation ribs on the male harp. Our micro-CT analysis provides a look into the head of S. kalambatritra sp. nov. and shows that non-destructive CT methods are a useful tool for studying the inner morphology of giant pill-millipedes.
Numerous specimens of squat lobsters belonging to the families Munididae, Munidopsidae and Eumunididae were collected during several cruises along the eastern coasts of Africa. The study of these specimens revealed the presence of 10 new species (one Eumunida Smith, 1883, eight Munida Leach, 1820 and one Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1874). We describe and illustrate these new species, providing some new data on occurrences and colour patterns for previously described taxa. We have also included molecular data from two mitochondrial markers (16S rRNA and COI) to support the taxonomic status of different species. Some deep-sea species show a clear increase in their geographic range dirstribution. Finally, a key to known species of the genus Munida from the western and central Indian Ocean is also presented.
The small conoidean Hemilienardia ocellata is one of the easily recognizable Indo-Pacific “turrids”, primarily because of its remarkable eyespot colour pattern. Morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed four species that share this “characteristic” colour pattern but demonstrate consistent differences in size and shell proportions. Three new species – Hemilienardia acinonyx sp. nov. from the Philippines, H. lynx sp. nov. from Papua New Guinea and H. pardus sp. nov. from the Society and Loyalty Islands – are described based on the results of phylogenetic analyses. Although the H. ocellata species complex clade falls in a monophyletic Hemilienardia, H. ocellata and H. acinonyx sp. nov. possess a radula with semi-enrolled or notably flattened triangular marginal teeth, a condition that diverges substantially from the standard radular morphology of Hemilienardia and other raphitomids.
Drepanosticta kosterini sp. nov. (holotype ♂, from Gunung Penrissen, Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, deposited in RMNH) is described from both sexes. It is the sister species of D. actaeon Laidlaw, 1934; a fresh description of the male of D. actaeon and the first description of the female are given, along with discussion of variation in this species. Both D. actaeon and D. kosterini are considered to belong to a species group also including D. rufostigma (Selys, 1886) and a preliminary discussion of variation in this species is given, along with illustrations of both sexes. A neighbour joining COI gene tree for D. actaeon and D. kosterini is presented. The relationships of D. actaeon, D. kosterini and D. rufostigma to other members of the Platystictidae are briefly discussed.
Three new species of Kynotus from the Central Highlands of Madagascar (Clitellata, Megadrili)
(2017)
The earthworm fauna of Madagascar is scarcely known. A recently launched exploration of the soil fauna (“Global Change and Soil Macrofauna Diversity in Madagascar”) resulted in the discovery of six new earthworm species belonging to the Malagasy endemic family Kynotidae. The success of the collecting campaign carried out between 2008 and 2011 inspired a new exploration of the earthworm fauna across the Central Highland Region of the island in the spring of 2015. During this expedition, two new species of Kynotus, K. ankisiranus sp. nov. and K. voimmanus sp. nov., were discovered. Barcoding of the recently collected species of Kynotus revealed that the unpigmented worms referred previously to K. alaotranus Michaelsen, 1897 also represented a new, still undescribed species, K. blancharti sp. nov.