PhyloCode

Abstract: This study provides new and additional data on morphology and a phylogenetic analysis of the recently described species Pelagia benovici Piraino, Aglieri, Scorrano & Boero, 2014 from the Northern Adriatic (Mediterranean Sea). Comprehensive morphological analyses of diagnostic characters, of which the most significant are marginal tentacles anatomy, basal pillars, gonad pattern, subgenital ostia and exumbrellar sensory pits, revealed significant differences from the currently known genera Sanderia, Chrysaora and Pelagia in the family Pelagiidae. A phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial genes (COI, 16S rRNA, 12S rRNA) and nuclear ribosomal genes (28S rRNA, ITS1/ITS2 regions), together with cladistic analysis of morphological characters, positioned Pelagia benovici as a sister taxon with Sanderia malayensis, and both share a common ancestor with Chrysaora hysoscella. Pelagia benovici does not share a direct common ancestor with the genus Pelagia, and thus we propose it should not belong to this genus. Therefore, a new genus Mawia, gen. nov. (Semaeostomeae : Pelagiidae) is described, and Pelagia benovici is renamed as Mawia benovici, comb, nov.

Abstract: The Australian species of the spider family Hersiliidae are revised and compared in a key. Hersilia australiensis, sp. nov., is newly described, the first record of the genus Hersilia from Australia. For all other Australian species a new genus, Tamopsis, is erected and the species formerly included in the genus Tama Simon are transferred to it. Of the species so far recorded from Australia, only T. eucalypti (Rainbow) and T. fickerti (L. Koch) are recognised; Tama novaehollandiae (L. Koch) and Tama brachyura Simon are regarded as doubtful species, because the types are either juveniles or lost and the species are not recognisable from descriptions. For T. eucalypti (Rainbow) a lectotype and a paralectotype are designated; for T. fickerti (L. Koch) a neotype is designated from the material at hand. The following new species of Tamopsis are described: T. platycephala, sp. nov.; T. amplithorax, sp. nov.; T. brachycauda, sp. nov.; T. tweedensis, sp. nov.; T. brisbanensis, sp. nov.; T. daviesi, sp. nov.; T. kochi, sp. nov.; T. centralis, sp. nov.; T. reevesbyana, sp. nov.; T. grayi, sp. nov.; T. darlingtoniana, sp. nov.; T. queenslandica, sp. nov.; T. raveni, sp. nov.; T. cooloolensis, sp. nov.; T. brevipes, sp. nov.; T. arnhemensis, sp. nov.; T. circumvidens, sp. nov.; T. tropica, sp. nov.; T. trionyx, sp. nov.; T. pseudocircumvidens, sp. nov.; T. leichhardtiana, sp. nov.; T. rossi, sp. nov.; T. perthensis, sp. nov.; T. occidentalis, sp. nov.; T. fitzroyensis, sp. nov. The species of the genus Tamopsis are arranged in nine species-groups. A character-state analysis of several characters is provided for all species, and the phylogenetic status of species-groups and of included species is derived. It is concluded that four main lineages exist in Tamopsis: a high-eyed lineage (arnhemensis – circumvidens – tropica groups, 11 species), and three low-eyes lineages, namely the platycephala group (two species), the eucalypti group (two species), and the daviesi – queenslandica groups (10 species). In addition, the brachycauda and tweedensis groups are very primitive, each consisting of one species of obscure relationships. The origin of the genus Tamopsis is obscure, because no reliable information is available on the hersiliid fauna of neighbouring areas (New Guinea, south-eastern Asia). Phylogenetic and zoogeographical evidence, however, suggests that both high-eyed and low-eyed lineages originated in northern Australia. Perhaps the high-eyed lineage originated in or immigrated into northernmost Northern Territory, and the low-eyed lineages in northern Queensland. Within the arnhemensis – circumvidens – tropica lineage, as well as in the daviesi – queenslandica and the platycephala lineages, migration proceeded in a clockwise direction from the Northern Territory and northern Queensland respectively, through eastern Australia to south-western Australia and, in the tropica group, eventually to north-western Australia, where today the most derived Tamopsis species lives. The independent migration of species of different lineages probably explains the rich and diverse Tamopsis faunas in south-eastern Queensland and eastern New South Wales, as well as in south-western Australia. Both regions can be regarded as major centres for evolution of Tamopsis.

Abstract: The hoplonemertean Vieitezia luzmurubeae, gen. et sp. nov. is described from specimens collected in a national park on the north-west Iberian Peninsula, the Parque Nacional Maritimo-Terrestre das Illas Atlanticas de Galicia. The species, previously mistaken as the Mediterranean species Tetrastemma vittigerum (Burger, 1904), is frequently associated with two common species of sea squirt, Phallusia mamillata (Cuvier, 1815) and Ciona intestinalis (Linnaeus, 1767), inside which the nemertean completes its life cycle. Some of the specimens examined were protandrous hermaphrodites. Data on morphology and anatomy are provided with illustrations. Sequences of the nuclear ribosomal gene 18S rRNA and the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I were compared with those of other hoplonemertean species and all phylogenetic analyses suggested that Vieitezia is sister to the genus Gononemertes, which parasitises ascidians, within a clade also containing the genera Oerstedia and Nemertellina. In contrast, the morphologically similar genus Tetrastemma appears in a separate clade. This study stresses the need for combining molecular and morphological data when studying nemertean biodiversity.