A new species of small crested caracara, Caracara seymouri, from Quaternary asphalt deposits of the Talara Tar Seeps, northwestern Peru, is described from most major elements of the skeleton. Specimens reported in the literature from late Pleistocene deposits at La Carolina, Ecuador, are referred to the same species. These fossils had previously been identified as Polyborus (now Caracara) plancus, but they possess a combination of characters not present in the living species of caracaras, C. plancus or C. cheriway and are from a much smaller and more gracile bird. Caracara seymouri is similar in size to the extinct species C. creightoni from the Bahamas and Cuba but differs in having the skeletal elements less robust, especially the premaxilla. This is the second paleospecies described for the genus Caracara in the Quaternary of South America.

A 145 mm SL specimen of the ostraciid Longhorn Cowfish, Lactoria cornuta (Linnaeus, 1758), collected along the coast of Oman, has only small rudiments of the caudal fin and a much shortened caudal peduncle in which the posteriormost vertebrae are either abnormally developed or fused. The otoliths are too deteriorated to allow aging, but the gonads are mature, and we presume that an adult specimen of this size is several years old. Remarkably, this “tail-less” specimen survived without a functional caudal peduncle and caudal fin, even though the long caudal fin in ostraciid fishes is the main source of the rapid propulsion required for predator avoidance. The anatomical peculiarities of the rudimentary termination of the vertebral column and caudal fin are described and illustrated. We also comment on the potential evolutionary implications of such abnormalities.

Scoliorhapis dianthus, new species, was collected from depths of 0.20–1 m in the Sea of Japan. It is distinctive in having ten tentacles with six pairs of digits of equal size. Ossicles in the body wall have a sigmoid shape and average 75 ± 5 μm in length. An identification key to all species of the genus is provided.

Anelpistina californica, new species (Insecta: Zygentoma: Nicoletiidae), from the Peninsula of Baja California, Mexico, is described. We report here the 16S rRNA sequence of this new species. The information in this study will be useful in future studies of nicoletiids from Baja California, especially those that use nicoletiids to calibrate molecular clocks. Baja California populations were separated from mainland continent populations in the late Miocene to Pliocene 13–5 mya when the Gulf of California appeared.

Members of genus Speleonycta (Insecta: Zygentoma: Nicoletiidae) have only been described from caves in south-central U.S.A. The first epigean species of Speleonycta is described herein. Specimens were collected from Mount Diablo in the bay area of San Francisco, California.

Botryllophilus symmetricus is described on the basis of females living in a compound ascidian (Synoicum), collected in Madagascar. The new botryllophiline belongs to female morphotype B of the genus (urosome with more than 5 segments) and is distinguished from the five congeners of type B by the following characters: 1) body fusiform symmetrical, elongated metasome weakly 5-segmented, and short urosome 8-segmented; 2) right and left legs 1–4 (asymmetrical in morphology) symmetrically placed, with equally wide space between 2 legs on each segment, right leg exopods unimerous subrectangular; and 3) ventral anal segment lacking ornamentation. The new copepod is the only representative of morphotype B in Botryllophilus of the Humes collection in Madagascar (1963).

A new species of crayfish, Orconectes (Crockerinus) alluvius, is described from headwater streams of the Crawford Upland and Mitchell Plain in southwestern Indiana. It occurs in small- to medium-sized sandy streams associated with leaf litter and woody debris. Orconectes (C.) alluvius can be distinguished from other species in the subgenus Crockerinus Fitzpatrick, 1987 by a combination of the following characters. First pleopod of form I male with weakly developed shoulder on cephalic surface at base of central projection; central projection corneous, constituting 18.9–32.5% (X̄ = 24.5%, n = 59, SD = 3.39) of total length of first pleopod, straight for most of length with a slight lateral curve at tip; cephalic margins of central projection feature impressed longitudinal striations distally on both mesial and lateral margins; mesial projection non-corneous with a slight outward bend near middle, ending in a flattened tip that is wider than the tip of the central projection; length of mesial projection subequal to length of central projection. The areola is wide, ratio 3.7–6.8 times of width to areola length, abdomen shorter than the thorax, and narrow chelae width. Mesial palm of chelae with three rows.

A new genus and species of pinnotherid crab, Laminapinnixa miamiensis, is described based on specimens mostly collected from sipunculan burrows in intertidal sand flats on Virginia Key, Miami, Florida. Males of this crab are characterized particularly by the presence of a conspicuous, broad, flattened, ventral abdominal appendage, herein referred to as the “abdominal plate” (AP). This structure has not previously been reported from brachyurans and occurs in males of all sizes (measured by carapace width, CW). Among 89 males and 87 females recovered, 50 crabs (24 males, 26 females) were associated with burrows of Sipunculus nudus Linnaeus, 1766. Hosts of most other specimens were not determined, but it is suggested that many were also likely associated with sipunculans. Eighteen sipunculan burrows had solitary crabs, whereas 15 had more than one; 14 of the 15 had heterosexual pairs. Carapace width (CW) and carapace length (CL) for males were 2.5 to 6.6 mm ( = 4.5 ± 1.0 mm) and 1.3 to 3.4 mm ( = 2.4 ± 0.5 mm), respectively; females ranged from 2.3 to 7.8 mm ( = 4.9 ± 1.3 mm) and 1.3 to 3.9 mm ( = 2.5 ± 0.6 mm). Abdominal width (AW) was positively correlated with CW, isometric in males and positively allometric in females. Ovigerous crabs (CW range 5.1 to 7.2 mm; = 6.3 ± 0.8 mm) were found in April, possibly indicating the beginning of their reproductive season. Multiple broods are produced in isolated females, utilizing sperm remaining in their seminal receptacles. Zoeae hatched in 22 and 23 days in two broods produced by two crabs in the laboratory. Females mature at ∼ 4.5 mm CW. Percent molt increment and intermolt time were negatively and positively correlated with CW, respectively. Crabs in the laboratory entered burrow openings of sipunculans, attached to their posterior ends and were carried through the sand by the worms. A discussion of the suspected function of the abdominal plate and its presence in other pinnotherid species is provided.

The grapsoid crab Xenograpsus testudinatus N. K. Ng, Huang & Ho, 2000, originally described from northern Taiwan, is recorded for the first time from shallow water thermal vents (3–5 m) in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Japanese material of X. testudinatus differs slightly from the Taiwanese material in the form of the frontal margin of the carapace, as well as the structure of the chelae, ambulatory legs, and male abdomen, but none of the differences is regarded as significant at the species-level. Genetic studies with mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene support its conspecificity with X. testudinatus.

Cancellaria (Cancellaria) coltrorum, new species, is described from shallow waters of the southern Brazilian Province, ranging from the Abrolhos Archipelago to Vitória. This new species co-occurs with C. petuchi Harasewych, Petit & Verhecken, 1992 but may be distinguished from it by having a broader shell with a shorter, wider spire; a proportionally larger aperture that is widest along its adapical half and has fewer, weaker lirae on the outer lip; and, most conspicuously, by having reticulate sculpture that becomes more irregular and dominated by axial ribs in latter whorls, and by being white or faintly mottled in very light tan rather than having dark brown spiral bands. The broad-ranging Cancellaria reticulata (Linnaeus, 1767) differs from both C. petuchi and C. coltrorum in having a shell with finer and more regular spiral and axial sculpture that is equal in prominence and produces a regular, reticulated pattern, as well as in having a thick, bifid posteriormost columellar fold and in lacking a thick callus that obscures the sculpture along the parietal region. Similarities in shell morphology suggest that C. mixta Landau, Petit & Silva, 2012, from the late Miocene of Panama, was a progenitor of C. coltrorum and C. petuchi, as well as the Panamic C. urceolata Hinds, 1843.

Polychaetes are key components of marine ecosystems. Their diversity of ecological niches is enormous, playing a significant role in sedimentary habitats. This study broadens the biodiversity information for the west coast of Baja California and particularly for Bahía Magdalena. Polychaete diversity and structure were assessed at 21 stations. Polychaetes were the dominant macrofaunal group with 30 families and 102 species identified in samples collected during two cruises in December 1996 and October 1999.

Best-represented families were Capitellidae, Cirratulidae, Nephtyidae, Nereididae, Onuphidae, Paraonidae, and Spionidae. In 1996, densities ranged from 90 to 3460 individuals/m² and Shannon index varied between 1.76–3.12 with the highest diversity values located in the northwestern area of Bahía Magdalena. In 1999, densities ranged from 70 to 1440 individuals/m² and Shannon index was 1.72–2.83, and the highest values occurred in the north area of the bay. Organic matter content in sediments varied between 0.87–5.70%. Four functional feeding groups (carnivores, herbivores, deposit-feeders, and suspension-feeders) were found with deposit-feeders and carnivores as the most abundant. Multivariate analyses performed with abundance data showed different polychaete assemblages in 1999 compared to 1996. This work can serve as a base-line study to determine future changes in polychaete assemblages.

A minute and abundant species of benthic ctenophore is described, resurrected from an unpublished manuscript of Frederick M. Bayer (deceased). It is an ectosymbiont of octocorals in south Florida. Members of the ctenophoran order Platyctenida were unknown from American waters until 1945, when specimens from Miami, Florida were reported by F. G. Walton Smith and referred to the genus Coeloplana. That species subsequently was found in Jamaica, and Rankin (1956) described it under the new generic name Vallicula. A second species of creeping ctenophore was found in the 1960s and rediscovered in 2011, living as an ectosymbiont on octocorals in the coastal waters near Miami. This species belongs to the original genus Coeloplana and is here described as Coeloplana waltoni, new species. This description is based on specimens examined by F. M. Bayer in the 1960s and additional material from collections obtained in 2012–2013. Critical differences between C. waltoni and Vallicula multiformis are noted, based on recently collected specimens of the latter in Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida.