During the ongoing partial taxonomic revision of the genus Echinolaophonte on the basis of populations previously collected from various shores of the Turkish coasts, a new species of Echinolaophonte was discovered and named Echinolaophonte mordoganensis sp. nov. The new species is morphologically most closely related to E. minuta and E. veniliae. The new species can easily be distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following features: i) the shape of the rostrum, ii) having 2 ornamented setae instead of 1 on the syncoxa of the maxilliped, and iii) pattern difference in the P1-P4 setal formula in both male and female. The phylogenetic position of the new species in the genus has also been briefly discussed.

IntroductionThe order Harpacticoida is one of the 10 orders of subclass Copepoda (Martin and Davis, 2001) and contains approximately 6000 species in 645 genera, which belong to 59 families (Ahyong et al., 2011). Marine harpacticoids are mostly benthic microcrustaceans, although a few are planktonic or are symbiotic with other animals. They are commonly the second most abundant taxon after nematodes in marine sediments (

An attempt was made to test if Lourinia armata (Claus, 1866)—as it is currently diagnosed—represents a species complex. Detailed examination and comparisons of several specimens collected from different localities suggest that L. armata indeed represents a complex of four closely related morphospecies that can be differentiated from one another by only detailed observations. One of the four species is identified as Lourinia aff. armata and the other three species are described as new to science and named as Lourinia wellsi sp. nov., L. gocmeni sp. nov., and L. aldabraensis sp. nov. Detailed review of previous species records indicates that the genus Lourinia Wilson, 1924 is distributed worldwide. Ceyloniella nicobarica Sewell, 1940, originally described from Nicobar Island and previously considered a junior subjective synonym of L. armata is reinstated as Lourinia nicobarica (Sewell, 1940) comb. nov. on the basis of the unique paddle-shaped caudal ramus seta V. It is postulated that almost all of these records are unreliable in terms of representing true Lourinia aff. armata described herein. On the other hand, the comparative evaluation of the illustrations and descriptions in the published literature indicates the presence of several new species waiting to be discovered in the genus Lourinia.                 It has been determined that, according to updated modern keys, the recent inclusion of the monotypic genus Archeolourinia Corgosinho & Schizas, 2013 in the Louriniidae is not justified since Archeolourinia shermani Corgosinho & Schizas, 2013 does not belong to this family but should be assigned to the Canthocamptidae. On the other hand, it has been argued that the exact phylogenetic position of the Louriniidae still remains problematic since none of the diagnostic characters supports the monophyly of the family within the Oligoarthra. It has also been argued that the close relationship between Louriniidae and Canthocamptidae is supported since both families share the homologous sexual dimorphism (apophysis) on P3 endopod. The most important characteristic that can possibly be used to define Louriniidae is the reduction of maxilliped.

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Both sexes of Monchenkocyclops mehmetadami n. sp. were described from hyporheic freshwater habitat in Turkey. The new species can easily be distinguished from the other four species in the genus by having three setae on the inner margin of the second endopodal segment of the first and second swimming legs and four setae on the inner margin of second endopodal segment of the third and fourth swimming legs. The setation patterns of female and male antennules of the new species are analyzed with reference to the hypothetical 28-segmented antennule of ancestral copepod and the homology of the antennulary segments is determined in both sexes. Paraphyletic status of the genus is briefly discussed. RÉSUMÉ Un nouveau Monchenkocyclops Karanovic, Yoo & Lee, 2012 hyporhéique de Turquie (Crustacea: Copepoda), avec l'étude des homologies sur les antennules. Mâles et femelles de Monchenkocyclops mehmetadami n. sp. sont décrits d'un habitat d'eau douce hyporhéique en Turquie. La nouvelle espèce peut facilement être distinguée des quatre autres espèces du genre par ses trois soies sur le bord interne du deuxième segment endopodal des premières et secondes pattes natatoires, et ses quatre soies sur le bord interne du deuxième segment endopodal des troisièmes et quatrièmes pattes natatoires. Les patrons de distribution des soies sur les antennules des femelles et des mâles de la nouvelle espèce sont analysés en référence au plan de base hypothétique de l'antennule chez les copépodes, avec 28 segments, et les homologies des segments antennulaires sont déterminées chez les deux sexes. Le statut paraphylétique du genre est brièvement discuté.

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Ambystoma mexicanum belongs to the family Ambystomatidae. It is one of the 30 species of the genus Ambystoma, which lives in a wide geography from southern Mexico to southern Alaska. It is accepted as a model organism in evolutionary biology, developmental biology, and regenerative medicine research. It can regenerate the brain, heart, and kidney organs as well as limb regeneration. Accurate identification of the model organism is important for the reproducibility and comparability of experiments. We aimed to confirm the species identification of axolotls using integrated taxonomic methods that were grown at Mersin University Aquaculture Units of the Faculty of Fisheries. Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and cytochrome b (Cytb) gene fragments of mtDNA sequences were used as molecular markers for phylogenetic analyses and species delimitation methods and compared with the sequences that were submitted to NCBI GenBank as species of Ambystoma. In the analyses that were conducted with different data sets, the individuals in question were grouped as a candidate species with the A. mexicanum species whose sequences were given in previous studies. All sequences obtained in this study and A. mexicanum sequences obtained from NCBI GenBank were grouped as haplotypes and their genetic distances were found to be 0 and it was determined that the individuals which were the subject of this study definitely belong to the A. mexicanum species. The results revealed that some species within the genus Ambystoma, especially A. barbouri and A. texanum, may be species complexes. On the other hand, A. mexicanum was grouped together with A. andersoni as candidate species in all analyses performed with the combined datasets of COI, Cytb, and COI+Cytb. These results revealed that the taxa in question are paraphyletic and should be assigned to the A. mexicanum species.