Introducing IsoMad, a compilation of isotopic datasets for Madagascar.

We present the first open-access, island-wide isotopic database (IsoMad) for modern biologically relevant materials collected on Madagascar within the past 150 years from both terrestrial and nearshore marine environments. Isotopic research on the island has increasingly helped with biological studies of endemic organisms, including evaluating foraging niches and investigating factors that affect the spatial distribution and abundance of species. The IsoMad database should facilitate future work by making it easy for researchers to access existing data (even for those who are relatively unfamiliar with the literature) and identify both research gaps and opportunities for using various isotope systems to answer research questions.

Establishment of a neotype for Antipathes flabellum Pallas, 1766 (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Antipatharia).

A neotype is designated for the antipatharian coral Antipathes flabellum Pallas, 1766. The neotype was collected off Madagascar (the original type locality is given as the Oceanus Indicus). Morphologically, the neotype corresponds closely in corallum shape and skeletal spination to specimens that have traditionally been identified as Antipathes flabellum.

Shallow-water black corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Antipatharia) from SW Madagascar.

Antipatharians, also known as black corals, represent a small group of anthozoan hexacorallians found in all oceans of the world. They are generally considered a deep-water taxon; however, some of the most diverse communities are known from tropical shallow waters. With a few poorly detailed exceptions, shallow-water black corals from the Indian Ocean and especially those from Madagascar are mostly unknown.

Taxonomic description and 3D modelling of a new species of myzostomid (Annelida, Myzostomida) associated with black corals from Madagascar.

Eenymeenymyzostoma nigrocorallium n. sp. is the first species of myzostomid worm associated with black corals to be described.