Gnathostomulida, a minor phylum of microscopic marine worms, now contains about 100 described species of which many have circum-tropical distribution. Sterrer (1998) listed 50 species of Gnathostomulida from the (sub)tropical northwestern Atlantic, including Austrognathia hymanae Kirsteuer, 1970 which had been described on the basis of only one mature specimen. I here provide additional information about this species as well a description of Austrognatharia barbadensis, new species.

Peavinenemertes whiteleyi, new genus, new species, is described as a member of the order Heteronemertea. The general morphology appears to be most closely related to the genus Cerebratulina (family Cerebratulidae). The significant generic characteristics of the new genus include the following: a proboscis containing three sets of muscles (longitudinal, middle circular, and inner longitudinal) without muscle crosses; the absence of a connective tissue layer between the epidermis and the body wall outer longitudinal musculature; the rhynchocoel wall circular musculature not interwoven with body wall musculature; the absence of foregut somatic musculature and subepithelial gland cell layers; the lack of neurochord cells in the nervous system; the presence of a caudal cirrus; and the blood system in the foregut region developed into a vascular plexus. The specific characteristics recognized in this new genus are the following: proboscis insertion in the anterior region of the head; the accompaniment of the construction of foaming tissue forming the proboscis sheath; the rhynchodeal sphincter of the rhynchodeum derived from the pre-cerebral septum; the lack of the cephalic lacunae and cephalic vessels; the joining of the rhynchocoel diverticulum to the three longitudinal vessels in the blood vascular system; the presence of four large lacunae (dorso-and ventro-cerebral, post-cerebral, lateral, and vascular plexus); and the presence of the undulation of lateral edges on the body for swimming. These and other data important to the consideration of Heteronemertea are explained and discussed.

Two new species of the genus Macrobiotus Schultze are described from China. Macrobiotus zhejiangensis, new species, is similar to Macrobiotus diffusus Binda et al., 1987 and Macrobiotus dimentmani Pilato et al., 2010. M. zhejiangensis differs from M. diffusus by more slender claws, and the external claws are longer than the internal claws of the first three pairs of legs, and by a different shape of the projections on the egg; it differs from M. dimentmani by external claws larger than the internal claws on the first three pairs of legs and by the processes in shape of truncated cones. Macrobiotus wuzhishanensis, new species, is similar to M. zhejiangensis but differs from it by a different shape on the claws of the hind legs, and by conical processes on the egg. Macrobiotus wuzhishanensis differs from M. diffusus Binda et al. by possessing more slender claws, by external claws larger than internal claws, by claws with a shorter common tract on the fourth pair of legs, and by differences in the egg. Macrobiotus wuzhishanensis is very similar to M. dimentmani Pilato et al. but differs from it by a narrower buccal tube, by posterior and anterior claws on hind legs different in size, and by the primary and secondary branches joined with a shorter common tract on the hind legs, and by differences in the egg.

Both sexes of a new species of Sentiropsis Huys & Gee, 1996 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Pseudotachidiidae) are described from the upper sublittoral zone off Hyeopjae, Jeju Island, Korea. Sentiropsis coreana, new species is very similar to its zoogeographically closest congener, S. vietnamensis Gómez & Chertoprud, 2009 from Nha Trang Bay (Vietnam) in the South China Sea. Females of both species differ primarily in morphometric characters. The presence of a well-developed apophysis on the male P2 endopod of S. coreana serves to distinguish it from the Caribbean type species, S. minuta (Coull, 1973) and calls into question the previously suggested sister-group relationship between Sentiropsis and the Paradanielssenia-lineage characterized by the presence of claviform aesthetascs on the mouthparts. An updated key to the 19 valid genera of the subfamily Danielsseniinae is provided. The genus Carolinicola Huys & Thistle, 1989 is removed from the Pseudotachidiidae and transferred to the subfamily Hemimesochrinae in the Canthocamptidae.

A new abyssal liljeborgiid amphipod from the equatorial eastern Atlantic Ocean (00°40.49′N, 005°29.71′W, 5142 m), Liljeborgia (Lilljeborgiella) famelicosa is described. The new species is very similar to L. mozambica Ledoyer, 1986 from the southwestern Indian Ocean. A key and checklist is also provided to species of Liljeborgia recorded from below 1000 m. The capacity of large range dispersal in Liljeborgia lineages is briefly discussed.

Species of Stigmatochomis are haplochromine cichlids endemic to Lake Malaŵi, and the genus currently includes four species, S. woodi (type species), S. modestus, S. pholidophorus, and S. pleurospilus. The latter two are known from only their holotypes. Herein, we describe two additional species, Stigmatochromis macrorhynchos and Stigmatochromis melanchros from southern Lake Malaŵi.

Two available Linnean names of 1758 and two of 1766 are based on snakes of a single species of Oxyrhopus. Which of these names has priority has been unclear. A review of the history of these names establishes Oxyrhopus petolarius (Linné, 1758) as the correct name for the species by action of Lönnberg (1896) as first reviser.

Five subspecies of the Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons (Scopoli, 1769), have been named, all on the basis of wintering birds, and up to six subspecies have been recognized. There has been confusion over the application of some names, particularly in North America, because of lack of knowledge of the breeding ranges and type localities, and incorrect taxonomic decisions. There is one clinally varying subspecies in Eurasia, one that breeds in Greenland, and three in North America, one newly named herein.

Excavations in Callao Cave, in the lowland (ca. 85 m elevation) Cagayan River Valley of northeastern Luzon, Philippines, have produced the first fossils of any endemic genera of Philippine murid rodents. Three dentaries dated to the Late Pleistocene, between ca. 50,000 and 68,000 BP, are referred to the genera Batomys and Apomys; the former is a member of the endemic “Phloeomys Division” of Philippine murids, and the latter of the “Chrotomys Division,” also endemic to the Philippines. Batomys is currently known from five extant species from Luzon, Mindanao, and Dinagat islands; the two species known from Luzon differ in size and dental and mandibular morphology from the two fossil mandibles, and both occur only at elevations above 1350 m. Apomys is currently known from two subgenera on Luzon; the fossil is a member of the nominate subgenus, which contains two species on Luzon, one of which, Apomys microdon, is conspecific with one fossil. We hypothesize that the Batomys fossils represent a different species from the living taxa, but we do not name it due to the fragmentary nature of the specimens. These Apomys and Batomys represent the first fossil small mammals from the main body of the Philippine archipelago (east of Huxley's Line), and the Batomys are the first suspected extinct Pleistocene small mammal from the Philippines. The fossils indicate greater species richness and broader distributions than at present within this distinctive and diverse endemic radiation of mammals.