Collections held by the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle until now unstudied contain six species of Axiidea de Saint Laurent, 1979 and Gebiidea de Saint Laurent, 1979 from the Indo-west Pacific. Three species of Callianassidae Dana, 1852 are new: Calliax tulearensis n. sp., and Calliaxina thomassini n. sp. from Madagascar and Callianassa coriolisae n. sp. from the Philippines. Neocallichirus audax (de Man, 1911), Axianassa ngochoae Anker, 2010 and Gebiacantha richeri , 1989 are reported for the first time from Vietnam. The new species are described and morphological variabilites in the others are discussed.

The deep-water Naticidae Guilding, 1834 collected in the expedition MD55 off SE Brazil are taxonomically studied; of the eleven species found, nine species and one genus are new. Microlinices n. gen., mainly characterized by its minute shell size (5–8 mm), thick unpigmented shell walls, weak callus, umbilicus wide lacking central fold, corneous operculum, absence of eyes, osphradium somewhat peduncular, penis at right of or ventral to right cephalic tentacle, nerve ring highly concentrated, and found in deepwater environment. The following taxa are studied here: Microlinices latiusculus n. gen., n. sp., the type species, off Rio de Janeiro (RJ), 430–450 m (anatomy included); M. ibitingus n. gen., n. sp., off Espírito Santo (ES) and RJ, 640–1575 m (anatomy included); M. benthovus n. gen., n. sp., same distribution, 607–1575 m (anatomy included); M. ombratus n. gen., n. sp., off ES, 1500–1575 m; M. apiculus n. gen., n. sp., off ES, 367 m; M. gaiophanis n. gen., n. sp., off RJ, 830 m; Natica jukyriuva n. sp., off ES, 295–620 m; N. pipoca n. sp., off ES, 15 m; N. juani Costa & Pastorino, 2012, off ES, 52–105 m, expanding the geographic distribution to north, to ES and Trindade Island; an operculum of Natica (ss) sp., off ES, 295 m; Eunaticina abyssalis n. sp., off ES, 1500–1575 m. The Natica Scopoli, 1777 ss and Eunaticina Fisher, 1885 are reported on the Brazilian coast for the first time. The three species with anatomical descriptions, representing the new genus Microlinices n. gen., had their phenotypic characters coded and inserted in a wider cladistic analysis (Simone 2011), with no inclusion of new characters. The three species resulted as a monophyletic taxon amongst the basal Naticoidea Guilding, 1834, supported by 20 synapomorphies.

Eight new species of Stenaelurillus Simon, 1885 from Africa are described: S. furcatus n. sp. (♂♀, Namibia), S. kavango n. sp. (♀, Namibia), S. latibulbis n. sp. (♂♀, Congo), S. modestus n. sp. (♂♀, South Africa), S. pecten n. sp. (♂♀, Botswana, Zambia), S. specularis n. sp. (♂♀, Malawi), S. sudanicus n. sp. (♀, Sudan), S. zambiensis n. sp. (♂♀, Zambia, Zimbabwe). Stenaelurillus cristatus Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2000 is synonymised with S. hirsutus Lessert, 1927. Name of S. giovae Caporiacco, 1936 is recognised as nomen dubium. Redescriptions of S. albopunctatus Caporiacco, 1949, S. hirsutus and S. uniguttatus Lessert, 1925 are provided. New distributional data for some species are given.

A fourth species of gecarcinucid freshwater crab of the genus Balssiathelphusa Bott, 1969, is described from a cave system in eastern Kalimantan, Indonesia in Borneo. It is closest to B. cursor Ng, 1986, from Kalimantan, but can easily be distinguished from congeners by its relatively wider carapace, elongated ambulatory legs and characteristic male first gonopod structure. Although found only in caves, it is not regarded as a troglobite because its eyes are not reduced and the cornea are fully pigmented.

The South-Western portion of Madagascar appears to have one of the highest levels of scorpion diversity on the island. In this paper is presented an analysis of the known species of Grosphus Simon, 1880 from this region. Information on ecological aspects of the species is also given. A new species is also described from the region of Cap Sainte Marie, an area where micro-endemic patterns can be observed. The new species is characterized by a medium size with a total length of 50.3 mm. General coloration yellow to pale yellow without dark zones on body and appendages. Carapace yellow with an anterior reddish-orange zone, approximately forming an inverted triangle. Anterior margin of carapace strongly granular. Male pectines with 36–36 teeth. Fixed and movable fingers of pedipalps with 12–13 oblique rows of granules.

The Cameroon volcanic line (CVL), which represents a major topographical feature of Central Africa, is poorly known concerning its small-mammal biodiversity. Situated in the Bamenda-Banso highland plateau, Mt Oku is the second highest peak (3011 m) of the CVL after Mt Cameroon. Despite intensive cultivation and cattle grazing, especially in the Kilum-Idjim zone, Mt Oku has retained some relict mountain forests, which yielded many endemic small mammals. We conducted new taxonomic inventories for small mammals and present the results for rodents focussing on morphology and morphometry. We also present the skull characters and morphological variability of the Oku endemic genus Lamottemys Petter, 1986 and provide characters for the identification of other endemic species such as Otomys occidentalis Dieterlen & Van der Straeten, 1992, Praomys hartwigi Eisentraut, 1968, Paraxerus cooperi Hayman, 1950, Lophuromys dieterleni Verheyen, Hulselmans, Colyn & Hutterer, 1997 and Lemniscomys mittendorfi Eisentraut, 1968. We provide an update of the faunal list of Mt Oku and also include a revision of previous collections. We found an exceptional diversity of 26 rodent species, including two species never recorded before on Oku (Dendromus sp. Smith, 1829 and Funisciurus leucogenys F. Cuvier, 1842). A comparison with East African highlands and Mt Cameroon confirms the conservation importance of the West African mountains of the CVL as biodiversity hotspots.

A new cicada genus, Neoterpnosia n. gen., is described for Terpnosia oberthuri Distant, 1912 as the type species, which is placed in the subtribe Euterpnosiina Lee, 2013 of the tribe Leptopsaltriini Moulton, 1923 in the subfamily Cicadinae Latreille, 1802. Terpnosia oberthuri Distant, 1912 becomes Neoterpnosia oberthuri (Distant, 1912) n. comb. Terpnosia versicolor Distant, 1912 is transferred from Terpnosia Distant, 1892 to Neoterpnosia n. gen. to become Neoterpnosia versicolor (Distant, 1912) n. comb. Two new species, Neoterpnosia personalis n. gen., n. sp. and Neoterpnosia donghai n. gen., n. sp., are described from Vietnam and India, respectively.