A taxonomic review was performed on cestodes of the genus Neoskrjabinolepis Spassky, 1947 that parasitize different species of Sorex shrews in different regions of the northern Palearctic and in the Nearctic (Alaska, USA). Information on Palearctic Neoskrjabinolepis cestodes published in various articles is summarized. An overview of the geographical distribution of the Neoskrjabinolepis species is also presented. Currently, the genus includes 17 species. In the European part of the Palearctic, four species of the genus are registered; in the Asian part, 13 species; and on the American continent (Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA), two species. Descriptions, illustrations, and differential diagnoses are given for a new species of Neoskrjabinolepis, i.e. N. paradoxa n. sp., which was found in shrews Sorex unguiculatus Dobson and S. caecutiens Laxmann on Sakhalin Island. A unique feature of the new species is irregularly alternating genital pores in the uterus series in the strobila. Amended new differential features (positioning of the uterus relative to osmoregulatory canals and alternation of genital pores) of genus diagnosis and an identification key for Neoskrjabinolepis spp. are presented.

During several nematological surveys in cultivated and natural habitats in Khuzestan and Zanjan provinces of Iran, a new species, Bitylenchus parvulus n. sp., two new records for Iran – namely, Tylenchorhynchus agri and Tylenchorhynchus graciliformis – and a population of Bitylenchus parvus and one of Sauertylenchus maximus were recovered and characterized based upon morphological and molecular approaches. The new species is characterized by lip region with five to seven annuli, stylet 17.7 (17.0–18.5) μm long, sub-cylindrical tail narrowing abruptly near terminus giving a bluntly digitate shape to the tail tip, cuticle near anterior part of vulva wrinkled and post-rectal sac occupies whole of tail cavity. The phylogenetic analyses were carried out using molecular data from D2–D3 expansion segments of large ribosomal subunit (28S rRNA) for all studied species and the partial small ribosomal subunit (18S rRNA) for the new species. The representatives of Bitylenchus and Sauertylenchus formed distinct clades from Tylenchorhynchus members, supporting the hypothesis in which Bitylenchus and Sauertylenchus could be considered as valid genera, but rejecting the ‘large-genus’ concept for Tylenchorhynchus. Also, Sauertylenchus ibericus was proposed as a junior synonym of S. maximus based on the results from morphological and phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, an identification key for all known species included in the three genera Bitylenchus, Tylenchorhynchus and Sauertylenchus is presented herein. The number of transverse annuli on the lip region and presence/absence of post-rectal sac were considered as the main diagnostic characters for classifying the species into seven groups, and other morphological and morphometric characters were subsequently used for distinguishing species in each group.

The amphipod Ericthonius didymus Krapp-Schickel, 2013 is reported for the first time outside its type locality in European waters, from the French Atlantic coast and from the Azores, Portugal. In particular, a large population was recorded in Arcachon, France. Molecular analyses were made to confirm the validity of three closely related Ericthonius species: E. didymus, E. convexus and E. pugnax. An identification key is provided, distinguishing Ericthonius species into three groups, based on the presence or absence of stridulating ridges on coxa 2 and posterodistal lobe on basis of male pereopod 5.

The new species Psoroma nivale is described from an area of late snow-lie in the Keglo Bay area on the eastern side of Ungava Bay, northern Québec, Canada. It is superficially similar to P. hypnorum but has a dark, brownish black thallus colour without reddish hues, much-branched, proliferating squamules, thick paraphyses, distinct but inconspicuous IKI+ ascus tube structures, and characteristic elongate, bacilliform, often asymmetrical ascospores. The new species is compared with possible related taxa and its systematic position discussed. A key to the species of pannarioid lichens reported from arctic areas of North America is also provided.

A new species from the subfamily Comesomatinae is described from the back-reef platforms of the central part of the Maldivian archipelago. Paracomesoma susannae sp. nov. is characterized by a large-sized body, very long cephalic sensilla (72–91 µm long), lateral differentiation of punctuations, and, in the males, 19–22 minute precloacal supplements, relatively short spicules (2.3–2.9 anal body diameter) and a hook-like structure in the distal end of the gubernaculum. Paracomesoma susannae sp. nov. is the only species so far described of the genus which appears to have such a low ratio of the outer labial and cephalic sensilla (about 0.02). An emended diagnosis of P. paralongispiculum is proposed, along with an updated and modified key to all the valid species of the genus Paracomesoma.

The new obligately lichenicolous fungus, Melaspilea tucumana Flakus, Etayo & Kukwa, inhabiting thalli of saxicolous Pertusaria s. lat. is described from Tucumano-Boliviano vegetation in Bolivia. The species is characterized by the gall formation and superficial, lirelliform to branched, aggregated apothecioid ascomata with widely exposed discs. The ascomata of M. tucumana are initially perithecioid and immersed in the host thallus, but become superficial and apothecioid when mature, and thus resemble the genus Buelliella. This may suggest the placement of the new species in Dothideomycetes.

The genus Colutea (Fabaceae) has been revised in preparation for the Flora of Iran treatment and a synopsis is presented here. In Iran the genus includes four sections, three subsections and nine species. An identification key, notes and distributions are given for the taxa. Two new subsections are described: Colutea sect. Rostrata subsect. Gifana and Colutea sect. Rostrata subsect. Uniflora.

The following new species of pyrenocarpous lichens are described from Rondônia: Agonimia tenuiloba: corticolous, thallus with minute flabellate lobes developing goniocysts; ascomata smooth, grey, ellipsoidal; ascospores densely muriform, 30–50(–76)×20–35 µm. Anisomeridium lateriticum: saxicolous; conidiomata sessile, pyriform, ostiole with brown and hyaline septate setae; conidia simple to 1-septate, 8–11×2·0–2·5 µm. Anisomeridium triseptatum: corticolous, ascomata with lateral ostioles; ascospores (1–)3-septate, 25–30×7·5–10·0 µm, often with gelatinous appendages. Mycomicrothelia megaspora: ascospores ornamented, 1-septate, (27–)29–35(–40)×8–12 µm, often with a gelatinous layer 6–15 µm thick. Porina linearispora: corticolous; thallus green, shiny; ascomata immersed, 0·2–0·3 mm; ascospores filiform, (7–)9(–13)-septate, 75–90×1·5–2·0 µm. Porina maxispora: corticolous; thallus green, matt; ascomata immersed, 0·5–0·7 mm; ascospores filiform, (17–)23–35-septate, 95–110×4·5–5·5 µm. Porina novemseptatoides: saxicolous; thallus very thin, brown, glossy; ascomata superficial, 0·1–0·2 mm; ascospores fusiform, (7–)9-septate, 21–24×4·5–5·0 µm, with a c. 5 µm thick gelatinous layer. Porina termitophila: terricolous; thallus greyish green; ascomata emergent, 0·15–0·20 mm; ascospores fusiform, 1–3-septate, 13–15×2·5–3·0 µm. Pyrenula bispora: corticolous, thallus whitish, ascomata dispersed; hamathecium inspersed; ascospores 2 per ascus, muriform, 55–75×19–23 µm. Pyrenula leptaleoides: corticolous; thallus green to pale brown; ascomata deeply immersed in bark, with long necks fused in joint ostioles visible as brown dots on the surface; ascospores 23–27×8–11 µm, with rather angular lumina. Pyrenula rhomboidea: corticolous; thallus olive-brown; ascomata single, immersed; ascospores irregularly uniseriate, clavate-rhomboidal, 11–13×3·5–4·0 µm.

A key is provided to all species of pyrenocarpous lichens (except Trypetheliaceae) found in Rondônia. Nearly all species are new reports for Rondônia. Aspidothelium glabrum, Pyrenula leucotrypa and P. micheneri are newly reported for South America. The usually foliicolous Strigula nitidula is reported for the first time from bark.

The high lichen diversity is explained by the poor soils, supporting an only moderately dense forest where enough light can reach the tree trunks at ground level to support a rich flora of crustose lichens usually confined to the upper trunks.

Two new species of Metachromadora are described from Bananal and Bica beaches in Guanabara Bay on the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Both new species belong to the subgenus Bradylaimus, which is characterized by the absence of lateral alae. Metachromadora prepapillata sp. nov. is characterized by the presence of 8–9 precloacal papilliform supplements, while Metachromadora verae sp. nov. is characterized by the sexual dimorphism of the amphidial fovea, presence of 8–9 precloacal tubuliform supplements, and three postcloacal papillae. An updated dichotomous key to species of Metachromadora is proposed. Metachromadora asupplementa is reinstated as a valid species.

Spaniophlebia male genitalia is described for the first time and the diagnosis of the genus is improved in order to encompass this new set of characteristics. Spaniophlebia kayapo sp. nov. is described based on male and female imagos from Pará and Mato Grosso states, Brazil, Spaniophlebia trailiae is redescribed based on newly collected material and comparison with the types, and Spaniophlebia escomeli is transferred to the genus Lachlania based on wing features and distributional data. A key to male imagos of the genus is provided as well as considerations regarding type-localities of Spaniophlebia species.

A new species of Sphaerodoridae (Annelida: Polychaeta), Sphaerodoropsis solis sp. nov., is described from the Challenger Plateau in the Tasman Sea, south-west Pacific. It is the third species of the genus with ventral macrotubercles and is further characterized by the lack of dorsal papillae and the specific arrangement pattern of ventral papillae. A character indicating sexual dimorphism, that has been observed in three morphologically similar species, S. arctowskyensis Hartmann-Schröder & Rosenfeldt, 1988, S. bisphaeroserialis (Hartmann-Schröder, 1974c), and S. garciaalvarezi Moreira, Cacabelos & Troncoso, 2004, is confirmed for S. solis sp. nov. Besides S. solis sp. nov., S. arctowskyensis and S. parva (Ehlers, 1913) are newly recorded from the Challenger Plateau and the East Campbell Plateau in the south-west Pacific. An updated key for the genus Sphaerodoropsis is provided.

Thelotremoid lichens (Ostropales, Ascomycota) with a trentepohlioid photobiont in Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, the South Island of New Zealand, and subpolar islands of the southern Hemisphere are studied. Twenty-five species are accepted, with three species described as new to science: Melanotopelia blepharostoma Lumbsch & Divakar, Topeliopsis athallina Lumbsch & Mangold and Topeliopsis patagonica Mangold & Lumbsch. The new combination Topeliopsis novae-zelandiae (Szatala) Lumbsch & Mangold is proposed.

We describe the digenean fauna of one of the dominant intertidal hosts, the common cockle Cerastoderma edule, in terms of biomass, off north-eastern Atlantic shores. Using published and unpublished literature we have prepared an identification key and provide an up-date of the large-scale distributional patterns of digenean species of the common cockle. At least sixteen digenean species, belonging to seven families, use cockles as intermediate host. Among these species two utilize cockles as first intermediate host only, whereas two species utilize cockles as both first and second intermediate host. The remaining eleven species have cockles as their second intermediate host. Water birds and fish are the definitive hosts to twelve and four species, respectively.

Cockles are infected with digeneans along the latitudinal gradient from southern Morocco to the western region of the Barents Sea often with high infection levels. Whereas some of these digenean species occur along most of the latitudinal gradient others show a more restricted northern or southern distribution mostly caused by an underlying latitudinal gradient of host species.

Knowledge of digenean species and their large-scale distribution pattern may serve as a baseline for future studies dealing with the effects of climate change on parasite–host systems. For such studies the cockle and its digenean community could be an ideal model system.

The morphological circumscription of selected Central European freshwater species in the lichen genus Thelidium was re-examined against the background of a molecular phylogeny based on ITS sequences. Molecular data reveal a close relationship between Thelidium methorium, T. pertusatii and Verrucaria latebrosa contradicting the traditional separation of Verrucaria and Thelidium by ascospore septation. Thelidium methorium and T. pertusatii are closely related species. The distinction of Thelidium methorium and T. submethorium was supported both by differences in ITS sequences and morphology. Thelidium minutulum, T. pluvium and T. zwackhii form a distinct clade with small perithecia and a thin or absent involucrellum. Thelidium rehmii and T. minutulum differ morphologically only in larger variability of ascospore length and the arrangement of photobiont cells, but are clearly separated by their ITS sequences as well their ecological requirements. An identification key for epilithic freshwater species of Thelidium in Central Europe is given, a lectotype for T. pertusatii is chosen, and detailed remarks for each species are provided.

A dichotomous identification key for brachyuran zoeal stages from Peter the Great Bay (Russian waters of the Sea of Japan) is provided for the first time. The key covers 16 taxa identified to species level and uses only the most conspicuous external characters of larvae that are easy to observe under a stereomicroscope without specimens dissection. The key is based on the accounts by various authors and new original descriptions of larvae obtained both from plankton samples and from laboratory culture. Brief descriptions of larvae of 16 brachyuran species are also included.

A key to identify the known mature larvae of the South American genera of the family Elmidae is provided. The key includesseven genera presently assigned to the subfamily Larainae and 15 genera assigned to the subfamily Elminae. New distributionaldata for all genera and a checklist of described larvae are also included. The mature larva of Macrelmis saltensis Manzo isdescribed and illustrated for the first time, and compared to other known larvae of the granigera species-group. Distributionalnotes for M. saltensis increase its known range to the north, this being the first citation of the species for Bolivia. Macrelmis isis(Hinton) is also cited for the first time for Bolivia.

Ramalina species are among the most abundant lichens on the Galapagos Isles. A total of fifteen species have been distinguished, four of which are described as new here: Ramalina darwiniana, R. fragilis, R. furcellangulida and R. polyforma. These new species are considered to be endemic to the Galapagos whereas previous reports refer to relatively common, more widely distributed species. Several other species are reported here for the first time from the Galapagos.