The reef lobsters of the family Enoplometopidae de Saint Laurent, 1988 are attractive marine aquarium pets but the generic assignments have been controversial. Molecular phylogeny using five genetic markers (three mitochondrial and two nuclear) on 11 of the 12 species known in the family successfully reconstructed a robust phylogenetic tree for the reef lobsters with two well-supported groups. The genus Hoplometopus Holthuis, 1983 is revived but with diagnostic characters revised and H. voigtmanni (Türkay, 1989) should be treated as a synonym of H. holthuisi (Gordon, 1968). Four synapomorphies are identified in Enoplometopidae, including the number of the intermediate and postcervical teeth on the carapace, the shape of abdominal pleura and the spination of the palm of large chelipeds. Fossil calibration and ancestral range reconstruction analyses suggested that reef lobsters had a Tethyan deeper water origin and emerged during the Cretaceous period. Enoplometopus s.s. was relatively primitive, whereas Hoplometopus diverged in the Central Indo-Pacific in the Upper Cretaceous and later crossed the Mediterranean into the Atlantic. Overall the family Enoplometopidae mainly speciated in the Central Indo-Pacific, and actively re-occupied shallow-water habitats and invaded temperate regions.

Donacidae is a commercially important family of heterodont bivalves and one of the few bivalve lineages that has successfully colonised brackish and fresh waters. However, to date, no phylogenetic hypothesis exists for this widely distributed group. Here we turn to molecular data from the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes and combine these with the extensive fossil record of donacids to propose an evolutionary hypothesis for the family. Our analyses strongly support the monophyly of Donacidae, including Galatea, Iphigenia and ‘Plebidonax’ deltoides, but render Donax paraphyletic. The subgenus Latona is therefore elevated to genus to accommodate a clade of Indo-Pacific species, while retaining Donax for a clade of mostly Atlantic and American Pacific species, and a few Indo-Pacific species. This latter clade is sister group to Galatea + Iphigenia. The diversification of Donacidae seems to be tightly connected to the opening of the North and South Atlantic Oceans in the Cretaceous, and to the closing of the Tethys Ocean during the Oligocene. Taxonomic actions: Latona columbella (Lamarck, 1818) comb. nov., L. deltoides (Lamarck, 1818) comb. nov., L. dysoni (Reeve, 1854) comb. nov., L. madagascariensis (W. Wood, 1828) comb. nov., L. semisulcata semigranosa (Dunker, 1877) comb. nov., L. spinosa (Gmelin, 1791) comb. nov., L. sordida (Hanley, 1845) comb. nov., L. siliqua (Römer, 1870) comb. nov., L. trifasciata (Linnaeus, 1758) comb. nov. and L. victoris (Fischer-Piette, 1942) comb. nov.

Pettalidae is a family of mite harvestmen that inhabits the former circum-Antarctic Gondwanan terranes, including southern South America, South Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand. Australia is home to two pettalid genera, Austropurcellia, in northern New South Wales and Queensland, and Karripurcellia, in Western Australia, until now showing a large distributional gap between these two parts of the Australian continent. Here we report specimens of a new pettalid from South Australia, Archaeopurcellia eureka, gen. et sp. nov., closing this distributional gap of Australian pettalids. Phylogenetic analyses using traditional Sanger markers as well as ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) reveal that the new genus is related to the Chilean Chileogovea, instead of any of the other East Gondwanan genera. This relationship of an Australian species to a South American clade can be explained by the Antarctic land bridge between these two terranes, a connection that was maintained with Australia until 45 Ma. The UCE dataset also shows the promise of using museum specimens to resolve relationships within Pettalidae and Cyphophthalmi.

Morphologically similar species are often overlooked but molecular techniques have been effective in signalling potential hidden diversity, boosting the documentation of unique evolutionary lineages and ecological diversity. Platynereis dumerilii and Platynereis massiliensis are part of a recognised species complex, where differences in the reproductive biology have mainly been highlighted to date. Analyses of DNA sequence data (COI, 16S rDNA and D2 region of the 28S rDNA) of populations of the apparent morphotype of P. dumerilii obtained from a broader sampling area along European marine waters, including the Azores and Webbnesia islands (Madeira and Canaries), provided compelling evidence for the existence of at least 10 divergent evolutionary lineages. Complementing the genetic data, morphological observations of the better represented lineages revealed two major groups with distinctive paragnath patterns. Two new Platynereis species were erected: P. nunezi sp. nov., widespread in the Azores and Webbnesia islands, and P. jourdei sp. nov., restricted to the western Mediterranean. The new combination P. agilis is also proposed for Nereis agilis, previously unaccepted for one of the lineages present both in the Northeast Atlantic and western Mediterranean. Platynereis dumerilii is redescribed based on topotypic material. However, uncertainty in the identity of P. massiliensis due to the original brief description and the absence of type and topotypic material prevents the unequivocal assignment to the lineage assumed in this and previous studies. The remaining five lineages are represented by only a few small specimens with morphological features poorly preserved and were therefore not described in this study.