Evidence for a single, ancient origin of a genus-wide alternative life history strategy.

Understanding the evolutionary origins and factors maintaining alternative life history strategies (ALHS) within species is a major goal of evolutionary research. While alternative alleles causing discrete ALHS are expected to purge or fix over time, one-third of the ~90 species of butterflies are polymorphic for a female-limited ALHS called Alba. Whether Alba arose once, evolved in parallel, or has been exchanged among taxa is currently unknown.

Diet-driven ecological radiation and allopatric speciation result in high species diversity in a temperate-cold water marine genus Dendronotus (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia).

While the majority nudibranch clades are more species rich in the tropics, the genus Dendronotus is mainly represented in Arctic and boreal regions. This distribution pattern remains poorly understood. An integrative approach and novel data provided valuable insights into processes driving Dendronotus radiation and speciation.

Sea stars of the genus Gray, 1840 (Echinodermata, Asteroidea) from Vostok Bay, Sea of Japan.

We report seven species of the genus Gray, 1840 that were found in Vostok Bay, and two species from adjacent area, known from museum collection or seen in underwater footage. while existing literature reported no confirmed species from this area. Most of these species: , and were reported from the Sea of Japan previously.

Aligning evidence: concerns regarding multiple sequence alignments in estimating the phylogeny of the Nudibranchia suborder Doridina.

Molecular estimates of phylogenetic relationships rely heavily on multiple sequence alignment construction. There has been little consensus, however, on how to properly address issues pertaining to the alignment of variable regions. Here, we construct alignments from four commonly sequenced molecular markers (16S, 18S, 28S and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) for the Nudibranchia using three different methodologies: (i) strict mathematical algorithm; (ii) exclusion of variable or divergent regions and (iii) manually curated, and examine how different alignment construction methods can affect phylogenetic signal and phylogenetic estimates for the suborder Doridina.

Sea star (Clark, 1901) in the northwestern Pacific: one species or three?

Three species of the sea stars are reported from the waters of the northwestern Pacific. These species were referred by earlier authors as or . Two of them, and , were recently described from the Aleutian Islands.

sp. nov. (Echinodermata, Echinasteridae): a new sea star species from the Sea of Japan.

A new sea star species, sp.n., was discovered in Rudnaya Bay in the Sea of Japan.

A Radical Solution: The Phylogeny of the Nudibranch Family Fionidae.

Tergipedidae represents a diverse and successful group of aeolid nudibranchs, with approximately 200 species distributed throughout most marine ecosystems and spanning all biogeographical regions of the oceans. However, the systematics of this family remains poorly understood since no modern phylogenetic study has been undertaken to support any of the proposed classifications. The present study is the first molecular phylogeny of Tergipedidae based on partial sequences of two mitochondrial (COI and 16S) genes and one nuclear gene (H3).

Shallow water sea slugs (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) from the northwestern coast of the Sea of Japan, north of Peter the Great Bay, Russia.

The coast of northern Primorye region, north of Peter the Great Bay has been sparsely studied in regards to its molluscan fauna, with just a few works reviewing the distribution of local mollusks. This work presents a survey of the shallow water heterobranch sea slugs currently occurring around Kievka Bay to Oprichnik Bay, Russia. Thirty-nine species of sea slugs were found in this study and the new species sp.

DNA barcoding for squids of the family Gonatidae (Cephalopoda: Teuthida) from the boreal North Pacific.

A fragment of cytochrome c oxidase I was used to assess whether species of the squid family Gonatidae from the North Pacific could be identified using DNA barcoding approach. Pairwise intra- and interspecific p-distances were assessed, and systematic relationships among species were estimated by NJ analysis. Examined species formed well-differentiated species-specific clades on the neighbor-joining and Bayesian trees.

The types, publication date, and validity of Nucella elongata Golikov & Kussakin (Mollusca, Ocenebrinae).

The name Nucella heyseana var. elongata Golikov & Kussakin, 1962 was proposed for a 'form of uncertain taxonomic level', found in Kunashir and Sakhalin islands. However, this entity was previously recorded as Thais lamellosa (non Gmelin, 1791) (Kussakin 1956: 105-106, 108).

Cytochrome oxidase 1 gene sequence analysis in six flatfish species (Teleostei, Pleuronectidae) of Far East Russia with inferences in phylogeny and taxonomy.

Mitochondrial DNA at the cytochrome oxidase 1 (Co-1) gene region was sequenced for six flatfish species (in total, 11 sequences of at least 539 base pairs) from the Far East of Russia and compared with other sequences of Pleuronectiformes, comprising altogether 26 flatfish sequences and two outgroup sequences (Perciformes). An analysis of the protein-coding Co-1 gene revealed a statistically substantiated bias in (T + C):(A + G) content, supporting earlier findings. Average scores of the p-distances for different scales of the evolutionary history at the Co-1 gene revealed a clear pattern of increased nucleotide diversity at four different levels: (1) intraspecies, (2) intragenus, (3) intrafamily, and (4) intra-order.

Phylogeny and evolution of butterflies of the genus Parnassius: inferences from mitochondrial 16S and ND1 sequences.

Phylogenetic relationships among species of the genus Parnassius and its related taxa were analyzed by comparing nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA (504 sites) and NADH-dehydrogenase subunit 1 (469 sites). In the phylogenetic trees, Parnassius was found to be most closely related to Hypermnestra helios, whereas Archon apollinus, which has been classified in the tribe Parnassiini together with Parnassius and Hypermnestra, was more closely related to members of the tribe Zerynthiini. Within the Parnassius clade, six major clades corresponding to species groups were well supported, although the phylogenetic relationships among them were not clear.

Molecular systematics and evolution of the "Apollo" butterflies of the genus Parnassius (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data.

Sequences of 777 bp of mtDNA-ND5 locus were determined in order to shed light on the molecular systematics and evolution of the "Apollo" butterflies. Examined were nearly all of about 50 species of the genus Parnassius, together with seven species of the allied genera in the subfamily Parnassiinae (Papilionidae). The NJ and the MP phylogenetic trees show that the "Apollos" constitute a monophyletic group, comprising a number of cluster groups probably reflecting a relatively rapid radiation in evolution.