Molecular analysis of Lepidopleuruscajetanus (Poli, 1791) (Polyplacophora, Leptochitonidae) from the Mediterranean and near Atlantic.

In the present paper we used a molecular data set (including mitochondrial partial 16S rRNA and COI gene sequences) to examine the genetic structure of Lepidopleuruscajetanus (Poli, 1791) (Polyplacophora, Leptochitonidae) - a distinctive shallow water chiton and member of the basal branching Lepidopleurida, which is widespread in and adjacent to the Mediterranean. The analyses of the two mt-standard marker fragments resolved two main discrete clusters reported as L.cajetanus s.s. and L.aff.cajetanus, respectively. Lepidopleuruscajetanus s.s. is widespread throughout the area under study, while the second distinct lineage apparently co-occurs on the eastern Spanish mainland coast of the Balearic Sea. This result is discussed comparing our data with those reported, in 2014, by Fernández and colleagues who described L.cajetanus as exhibiting "a 'chaotic patchiness' pattern defined by a high genetic variability with locality-exclusive haplotypes, high genetic divergence, and a lack of geographic structure". Although genetic data alone are not sufficient to draw any definitive conclusions, nevertheless we believe that present results shed new light on L.cajetanus which apparently shows more geographically patterned genetic structure than supposed so far.

Late Pleistocene Red Sea Mollusca: 1. Polyplacophora.

This study describes the chiton fauna (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) from the marine Pleistocene coral reef deposits bordering the Red Sea coast and dating to the last interglacial epoch (Marine Isotopic Substage 5e, MIS5e). Twenty-one species were identified, of which only three were previously known from the Pleistocene of the Red Sea (Lucilina sueziensis, Acanthopleura vaillantii and Acanthochitona penicillata). Eight are recorded as fossil for the first time. Six are described as new (Lucilina confusa n. sp., L. aqabaensis n. sp., L. aegyptiaca n. sp., L. colantonii n. sp., "Onithochiton" vandingeneni" n. sp., and Acanthochitona interglacialis n. sp.) and two are assigned at generic level (Callochiton sp. and Craspedochiton sp.). Four of these new species (Lucilina confusa n. sp., L. aegyptiaca n. sp., L. colantonii n. sp. and "Onithochiton" vandingeneni n. sp.) are still living in the Red Sea, bringing to 28 the number of extant species known from the Red Sea. These Pleistocene Red Sea assemblages represent the most diverse chiton fauna yet reported from any interglacial deposit worldwide.

Naticid gastropods from the middle Miocene of western Ukraine.

The paper covers 11 species of naticid gastropods occurring in the lower Serravallian (Upper Badenian) strata of western Ukraine (Central Paratethys). The studied material (over 1,700 naticids) represents six genera and 11 species, of which eight are new: Cochlis odovychenorum, Cochlis ukrainensis, Tectonatica anistratenkorum, Tectonatica pseudoprietoi, Euspira sirenkoi, Payraudeautia ermesi, Payraudeautia sabrinae and Payraudeautia varovtsiana. Additionally, we have also identified Euspira protracta (Eichwald, 1830), Polinices staszici (Friedberg, 1923) and Sinum affinis (Eichwald, 1830). A lectotype of Sinum affinis is designated (ZISP 1/62208). Detailed descriptions of the protoconch and teleoconch morphology of the taxa involved, including SEM images, are presented.

The upper Miocene chitons of northwest France (Mollusca: Polyplacophora).

This study describes the chiton fauna (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) from the upper Miocene Tortonian deposits of northwest France previously known as the 'Redonian'. Twenty-two species were identified (represented by 9,380 valves), of which seven were already known, one is assigned at generic level (Leptochiton sp.) and 14 are described as new (Lepidopleurus pseudobenoisti sp. nov., L. gallicus sp. nov., Leptochiton parvus sp. nov., Leptochiton lateropustulosus sp. nov., Leptochiton renauleauensis sp. nov., Hanleya sancticlementensis sp. nov., H. sossoi sp. nov., Ischnochiton nitidum sp. nov., Callochiton pouweri sp. nov., Rhyssoplax assurrectum sp. nov., Tonicella redoniensis sp. nov., Acanthochitona globosa sp. nov., A. andegavensis sp. nov. and A. chauvereauensis sp. nov.). Regarding the stratigraphic distribution of the 21 taxa identified, 15 are restricted to the Miocene, the remaining six are extant and are distributed in the Atlantic and Mediterranean (Lepidopleurus cajetanus, Leptochiton algesirensis, Hanleya hanleyi, Ischnochiton rissoi, Callochiton doriae and Rhyssoplax corallinus. The number of new species is high (14 out of 22), possibly explained in part by the fact that this is the first description of the northwestern French upper Miocene chiton fauna - true endemicity is less likely in the light of scarce sampling.