A new genus and species of nudibranch-mimicking Syllidae (Annelida, Polychaeta).

Nudibranch mollusks, which are well-known for their vivid warning coloration and effective defenses, are mimicked by diverse invertebrates to deter predation through both Müllerian and Batesian strategies. Despite extensive documentation across different taxa, mimickers have not been detected among annelids, including polychaetes, until now. This study described a new genus and species of polychaete living on Dendronephthya octocorals in Vietnam and Japan.

Revealing the stygobiont and crenobiont Mollusca biodiversity hotspot in the Caucasus: Part III. Revision of stygobiont microsnails (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae) from the Russian part of Western Transcaucasia, with the description of new taxa.

A taxonomic revision of the stygobiont microsnails from north-western Transcaucasia (Krasnodar Krai, Russia) is presented. Two new generaSchapsugia gen. n.

Behavioral traits and territoriality in the symbiotic scaleworm Ophthalmonoe pettiboneae.

Among marine invertebrates, polychaete worms form symbiotic associations showing a wide variety of host use patterns. Most commonly, they live solitary on hosts, likely resulting from territorial behavior, yet little is known of the precise nature of the involved interactions. Based on field and laboratory observations, we described the symbiotic association between Ophthalmonoe pettibonae and Chaetopterus cf.

An occasional record of the amplexus in epigean Niphargus (Amphipoda: Niphargidae) from the Russian Western Caucasus.

The precopulatory mate guarding (amplexus) was observed in epigean Niphargus cf. magnus Birštein, 1940 collected near Tuapse in the Western Caucasus of Russia. The records of amplexing representatives of the subterranean genus Niphargus Schiödte, 1849 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Niphargidae) are extremely rare, and there are no publications describing the amplexus in this amphipod genus.

Integrative taxonomy, biogeography and conservation of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) in Russia.

Freshwater mussels are ecosystem engineers and keystone species in aquatic environments. Unfortunately, due to dramatic declines this fauna is among the most threatened globally. Here, we clarify the taxonomy and biogeography of Russian Unionidae species based on the most comprehensive multi-locus dataset sampled to date.

A New Species of the Aberrant Majid Crab Genus Balss, 1935 (Crustacea: Brachyura, Majidae, Planoterginae) from the Southern Red Sea.

A new species of the aberrant monotypic genus Balss, 1935 (Brachyura: Majidae: Planoterginae) is described from the southern part of the Red Sea, based on a single female recently found in the collection of the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University. The new species is clearly distinguished from Balss, 1935 in the form of carapace, antennal article and third maxilliped, as well as morphology of the ambulatory legs. The record extends the known range of , previously known only from the eastern Indian Ocean and Western Pacific, by more than 7000 km.

A new stygobiotic Xiphocaridinella (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae) from the Motena Cave, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region of Georgia, Caucasus.

A new stygobiotic atyid shrimp from the genus Xiphocaridinella Sadowsky, 1930 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae) is described based on morphology and DNA analysis from an underground lake inside the Motena Cave (Martvili Municipality, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Western Georgia, Caucasus). The new species is genetically well isolated from the West Georgian relatives and clearly differs from the other Caucasian congeners by specific lanceolate unarmed rostrum, turned forward, and by long fingers of pereiopod I and II in both males and females.

Freshwater mussels house a diverse mussel-associated leech assemblage.

Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are one of the most imperiled animal groups worldwide, revealing the fastest rates of extinction. Habitat degradation, river pollution and climate change are the primary causes of global decline. However, biological threats for freshwater mussels are still poorly known.

Cryptic diversity of stygobiotic shrimp genus Xiphocaridinella Sadowsky, 1930 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae): the first case of species co-occurrence in the same cave system in the Western Caucasus.

DNA barcoding of stygobiotic shrimps of the genus Xiphocaridinella Sadowsky, 1930 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae) collected in underground streams flowing inside two neighboring large karst caves (Otap and Abrskil сaves) revealed the presence of two distinct genetic lineages representing the first case of species co-occurrence in the Western Caucasus. The paper presents the complete morphological re-description of stygobiotic atyid shrimp Xiphocaridinella ablaskiri (Birštein, 1939) and the description of a new species using genetic and morphological analysis. Other known cases of co-occurrence of several stygobiotic shrimp species in the same cave system as well as new genetic data (COI mtDNA) on Western Caucasian species of the genus Xiphocaridinella are discussed in the paper.

On the taxonomic status of amphidromous shrimp Paratya borealis Volk, 1938 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae) from the south of the Russian Far East.

One of the most northern representatives of the family Atyidae, an amphidromous shrimp Paratya borealis Volk, 1938 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae), is considered as a junior synonym of Paratya compressa (De Haan, 1844 [in De Haan, 1833-1850]) based on morphological and genetic investigations of the specimens collected in rivers flowing into Peter the Great Bay and Posyeta Bay along the Russian coasts of the Sea of Japan. The study greatly increases the area of distribution of P. compressa to north for more than 1000 km and suggests that the species probably inhabit rivers flowing into the Sea of Japan also along North and South Korean coasts.

Cryptic diversity of the rocky crab genus Glebocarcinus Nations, 1975 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Cancridae): description of a new species from Russian coastal waters of the Sea of Japan based on morphology, DNA and distribution.

A new cancrid crab species Glebocarcinus kashini sp. nov. (Decapoda: Brachyura: Cancridae) is described from Russian coastal waters of the Sea of Japan.

Two new species of amphipod genus Stenothoe Dana, 1852 (Stenothoidae) associated with fouling assemblages from Nhatrang Bay, Vietnam.

Two new species of amphipod genus Stenothoe Dana, 1852 (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Stenothoidae) are described from hydroids collected in fouling communities of floating aquaculture platforms in Nhatrang Bay (Vietnam) representing the first record of the genus from coastal waters of Vietnam. The new species can be clearly separated from congeners by the structure of the mandible, maxilla II, the shape of gnathopod II, the armature of uropod III and the telson. The discussion is presented in the paper.

Phylogenetic relationships among European and Asian representatives of the genus Aspidogaster Baer, 1827 (Trematoda: Aspidogastrea) inferred from molecular data.

In the present study, phylogenetic relationships of European and Far Eastern representatives of the genus Aspidogaster Baer, 1827 were analysed: A. conchicola Baer, 1827, A. limacoides Diesing, 1834, A.

Partial redescription of pontoniine shrimps Cuapetes nilandensis (Borradaile, 1915) and Cuapetes seychellensis (Borradaile, 1915) (Decapoda: Palaemonidae: Pontoniinae) with remarks on taxonomic status of Cuapetes Clark, 1919 and Kemponia Bruce, 2004.

Pontoniine shrimps Cuapetes nilandensis (Borradaile, 1915) (the type species of the genus) and Cuapetes seychellensis (Borradaile, 1915) are re-described showing clear morphological difference from representatives of the genus Kemponia Bruce, 2004. Several specific morphological features show the validity of both pontoniine genera.

Redescription of Alpheus vladivostokiensis (Vinogradov, 1950), a large and conspicuous snapping shrimp from the northern Sea of Japan (Decapoda: Caridea: Alpheidae).

The poorly described Alpheus vladivostokiensis (Vinogradov, 1950) comb. nov., originally assigned to the genus Betaeus Stimpson, 1860 and hitherto considered as a nomen dubium, is redescribed based on material recently collected in Troitza Bay in the Russian Far East and Hakodate Bay in southern Hokkaido, Japan, as well as older material deposited in the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University.

Notes on holotypes of hermit crabs (Decapoda: Anomura: Paguroidea) deposited in the collection of Zoological Museum of RAS (Saint-Petersburg, Russia) with remarks on hermit crab diversity along the Russian coast of the Sea of Japan.

The holotype of Clibanarius sachalinicus Kobjakova, 1955 and Clibanarius hirsutimanus Kobjakova, 1971 in the collection of Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint-Petersburg, Russia) are examined. As a result, Clibanarius hirsutimanus Kobjakova, 1971 is found to be a species of Areopaguristes nigroapiculus (Komai, 2009) while Clibanarius sachalinicus Kobjakova, 1955 is a species of Clibanarius virescens (Krauss, 1843). Remarks on a single record of Diogenes penicillatus Stimpson, 1858 from Shamora Bay (Usury Bay) of the Sea of Japan as well as current faunal list of hermit crabs from the Russian coasts of the Sea of Japan are also presented in the paper.

Complete morphological re-description of mud-dwelling axiid Leonardsaxius amurensis (Kobjakova, 1937) with remarks on Axiidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea) from the Russian coast of the Sea of Japan.

The first complete re-description of mud-dwelling axiid Leonardsaxius amurensis (Kobjakova, 1937) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea) is presented based on the holotype and freshly collected specimens from Vostok Bay, Russia coast of the Sea of Japan. The species is mostly morphologically similar to Leonardsaxius spinulicauda (Rathbun, 1902) known from Pacific coasts of North America from Vancouver to California but can be morphologically separated mainly by morphology of carapace and coloration of cornea of eyes. Remarks on distribution of Leonardsaxius amurensis (Kobjakova, 1937) and the second axiid species, Boasaxius princeps (Boas, 1880), known along Russian coastline of the Sea of Japan are given.

A new echiuran-associated snapping shrimp (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae) from the Indo-West Pacific.

Alpheus echiurophilus sp. nov. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Alpheidae) is described based on material from Japan (Ryukyu Islands) and Vietnam (Nha Trang Bay); an additional, morphologically slightly different specimen from Madagascar (Nosy-Bé) is preliminarily referred to A.

The first record of an association between a pontoniine shrimp (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae: Pontoniinae) and a thalassematid spoon worm (Echiura: Thalassematidae), with the description of a new shrimp species.

A new pontoniine shrimp species, Eupontonia nudirostris sp. nov. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae: Pontoniinae), was found in association with the thalassematid spoon worm Listriolobus sp.

A re-description of rare alpheid shrimp Amphibetaeus jousseaumei (Coutière, 1896) and escription of a new species of the genus Athanopsis Coutière, 1897(Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae) from Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf.

A new record of rare alpheid shrimp Amphibetaeus jousseaumei (Coutière, 1896) (Decapoda: Caridea: Alpheidae) is presented based on material collected from Qeshm Island, Iran, the Persian Gulf. This is the first record of the species for the Iranian waters as well as the second record and re-description of A. jousseaumei from its original description given by Coutière (1896).

Deep water echinoid-associated pontoniine shrimp "Periclimenes hertwigi Balss, 1913" species group (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Palaemonidae): species review, description of a new genus and species from Philippines.

The new pontoniine shrimp genus, Echinopericlimenes gen. nov., is suggested for four species, Periclimenes hertwigi Balss, 1913, Periclimenes dentidactylus Bruce, 1984, Periclimenes calcaratus Chace & Bruce, 1993 and Echinopericlimenes aurorae sp.

A family of excitatory peptide toxins from venomous crassispirine snails: using Constellation Pharmacology to assess bioactivity.

The toxinology of the crassispirine snails, a major group of venomous marine gastropods within the superfamily Conoidea, is largely unknown. Here we define the first venom peptide superfamily, the P-like crassipeptides, and show that the organization of their gene sequences is similar to conotoxin precursors. We provide evidence that one peptide family within the P-like crassipeptide superfamily includes potassium-channel (K-channel) blockers, the κP-crassipeptides.