Among the iconic mammals of the North American West is the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). This species and a western subspecies of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus macrourus) were two of seven mammals originally named and described as new species in 1817 by Constantine S. Rafinesque. Rafinesque never saw the animals that he named. Instead, he followed the then-acceptable practice of basing his new species on animals characterized in another published work, in this case the putative journal of Charles Le Raye, a French Canadian fur trader who was said to have traversed the upper Missouri River region before the Lewis and Clark Expedition and whose journal described some of the wildlife in detail. Unlike the mule deer, whose existence has been established by generations of biologists, wildlife management professionals, and sportsmen, Le Raye and his journal have since been proven to be fraudulent. Because Rafinesque's names were published in accordance with the taxonomic conventions of his time, they remain available, but, based on the questionable source of his descriptions, the identities and type localities of the species must be viewed as unreliable. Fortunately, much of the Le Raye journal was derived from other, verifiable contemporary sources. In particular, the descriptions of the two deer were based on the published journal of Patrick Gass, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Using the Gass journal as the original source of Rafinesque's descriptions, the type localities for the two deer can be reliably placed in Lyman County, South Dakota.

The nomenclatural history of the small Antillean species that now goes by the name Audubon's Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri is briefly summarized. The type material of Puffinus lherminieri Lesson, 1839, supposed to be in a museum in Rochefort, France, could not be located and is presumed lost. The stated type locality “ad ripas Antillarum” is so general as to encompass almost the entire breeding range of the species, which is widely distributed in the Antillean region and has been regarded as showing variation meriting subspecific designation. Although the type locality was apparently legitimately restricted to Guadeloupe in 1948 or earlier, it was elsewhere erroneously restricted to “Straits of Florida” from 1931 to 1998 and up to the present. To resolve these numerous conflicts and uncertainties, a neotype collected in Saint Barthélemy, once administratively part of Guadeloupe, is here designated.

The Leptodactylus bolivianus complex has recently been assessed and determined to be comprised of three species – L. bolivianus, L. guianensis, and L. insularum (Heyer & de Sá 2011). The aim of this study is to amplify data for L. insularum that were not included in the Heyer & de Sá (2011) publication. The earlier paper based distributional data only on specimens evaluated by Heyer. Later literature searches identified further information and a greater number of localities for Leptodactylus insularum resulting in a comprehensive summary and a more precise distribution for the species.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize information for the currently understood single species Leptodactylus insularum. Pertinent literature is reviewed and summarized for biology, life history, systematics, nomenclature, conservation, and distribution.

In situ observations and photographs of the Caribbean roughshark, Oxynotus caribbaeus Cervigón, 1961, are reported for the first time from four widely separated localities around the tropical western Atlantic, including multiple records over an 8-yr period from a single locality off Roatán, Honduras. These records document an extension of the known geographic, bathymetric, and temperature ranges of the species to include southern Florida and the western Caribbean Sea, over a depth range of 218 to 579 m, and in water as warm as 16.39°C.

A new species of the genus Hypechiniscus Thulin is described from China. Hypechiniscus fengi, new species, is compared to the three existing species in the genus, H. exarmatus, H. gladiator, and H. papillifer. Hypechiniscus fengi differs from H. exarmatus in having a robust median dorsal spine and in having larger spurs on the internal claws; it differs from H. gladiator in lacking dentate collar on the fourth pair of legs; and it differs from H. papillifer in lacking any papillae on all four pairs of legs. An identification key to all species of the genus is provided.

A new cyclopoid species belonging to the genus Graeteriella is described from a limestone cave in central Vietnam. This is the first record of the genus from the Oriental region. It is assigned as the fifth member of the subgenus Graeteriella Rylov, 1948 based on its unique 1-segmented leg 5 armed with two spines/setae, lacking protopodal seta, and 2-segmented rami of legs 2–4 in female. The new species is distinguished from its congeneric species of the subgenus from Europe by having longer caudal rami with spiniform outer caudal seta, by the absence of coxal seta on leg 4, and by the seta/spine armature of leg 5, that is, an inner stout spine and a shorter outer pinnate seta on the free exopodal segment of leg 5.

A new species of harpacticoid copepod, Cletocamptus goenchim sp. nov., was found in the mouth of the Mandovi estuary, Goa, India. This species seems to be the same reported in 1979 from Lake Kolleru (east coast of India) as C. deitersi, but until new specimens are studied, the 1979 record will remain as doubtful. The new species seems to be related to C. stimpsoni. They can be separated by the armature of the mandibular palp, the shape of the outer element of basis of P2, the ornamentation of the posterior margin of cephalothorax, pro-, and urosomites, and anal operculum of both male and female, the armature formula of male P5EXP, the armature formula of the male P2ENP2, and the relative length and shape of the inner apophysis of the male P3ENP2. Some comments on specimens of Cletocamptus from Korea and China are given.

The description of Aricidea (Acmira) flava sp. nov., from coastal waters of the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea (China), and the Changjiang River Estuary is presented. Type material of A. (A.) elongata, A. (A.) eximia, A. (A.) finitima, A. (A.) horikoshii, and A. (A.) laubieri was examined. Aricidea (A.) flava is characterized by the presence of a moderately long cirriform prostomial antenna, elongated and cirriform posterior branchiae, neuropodial chaetae arranged in four rows in the posterior branchial region, and acicular chaetae with hirsute tips in posterior neuropodia. Aricidea (A.) flava seems to be restricted to shallow waters of the northern Chinese coast, with the Changjiang River Estuary as the southern boundary.