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1. Caribbean Amphipoda (Crustacea) of Panama. Part III: parvorder Lysianassidira

   https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1216.135258  

   White, Kristine N (October 2024, ZooKeys)

   Amphipods in the parvorder Lysianassidira are scavengers, often collected in sediment, coral rubble, algae, or among other invertebrates. Members of the parvorder have a head that is deeper than long, large coxae, lacinia mobilis present only on the left molar, and a mitten-shaped gnathopod 2 propodus with a long ischium. Nine species from two families within the parvorder are documented from Bocas del Toro, Panama. This research documents range extensions for eight species and an identification key to the species of Caribbean Lysianassidira of Panama is provided. 

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2. Caribbean Amphipoda (Crustacea) of Panama. Part IV: parvorder Caprellidira

   https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1234.145826  

   Sir, Sally J; White, Kristine N (April 2025, ZooKeys)

   The parvorder Caprellidira includes 1,244 described species in 17 families. The diverse morphology of caprellidiran amphipods ranges from thread-like to more typical laterally compressed body forms. Caprellidiran amphipods are associated with coral rubble, seagrasses, sponges, algae, and sand and typically feed on detritus from the water column. Twenty species from five families within the parvorder are documented from Bocas del Toro, Panama. Five species are new to science and a range extension is documented for 15 species. All species are diagnosed, new species are described, and an identification key to the Caprellidira amphipods of Panama is provided herein. 

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3. A New Name for Plants Previously Called Parablechnum christii (Blechnaceae) in Costa Rica and Panama

   https://doi.org/10.3417/2024876  

   Molino, Sonia; Testo, Weston L; Moran, Robbin C (February 2024, Novon, A Journal for Botanical Nomenclature)

   The name Parablechnum christii (C. Chr.) Gasper & Salino has been applied to a small species with few pairs of short pinnae that is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. After reviewing type material of this name, we conclude that it has been misapplied and is, in fact, a synonym of P. falciforme (Liebm.) Gasper & Salino, an older name. Because the specimens previously identified as P. christii lack a name, we propose P. talamancanum S. Molino & R. C. Moran for these plants. The species is endemic to the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama, from 1200 to 3350 m. 

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4. Diversification and distribution of gall crabs (Brachyura: Cryptochiridae: Opecarcinus) associated with Agariciidae corals.

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02163-1  

   Xu, T.; Bravo, H.; Paulay, G.; van der Meij, S.E.T. (August 2021, Coral Reefs - this is not a proceedings, it is a journal, but it is not in your dropdown!?)

   null (Ed.)

   Coral reefs are home to the greatest diversity of marine life, and many species on reefs live in symbiotic associations. Studying the historical biogeography of symbiotic species is key to unravelling (potential) coevolutionary processes and explaining species richness patterns. Coral-dwelling gall crabs (Cryptochiridae) live in obligate symbiosis with a scleractinian host, and are ideally suited to study the evolutionary history between heterogeneous taxa involved in a symbiotic relationship. The genus Opecarcinus Kropp and Manning, 1987, like its host coral family Agariciidae, occurs in both Indo-Pacific and Caribbean seas, and is the only cryptochirid genus with a circumtropical distribution. Here, we use mitochondrial and nuclear DNA gene fragments of Opecarcinus specimens sampled from 21 Indo-Pacific localities and one Atlantic (Caribbean) locality. We applied several species delimitation tests to characterise species diversity, inferred a Bayesian molecular-clock time-calibrated phylogeny to estimate divergence times and performed an ancestral area reconstruction. Time to the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) of Opecarcinus is estimated at 15−6 Mya (middle Miocene—late Miocene). The genus harbours ~ 15 undescribed species as well as several potential species complexes. There are indications of strict host-specificity patterns in certain Opecarcinus species in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic, however, a robust phylogeny reconstruction of Agariciidae corals—needed to test this further—is currently lacking. The Indo-West Pacific was inferred to be the most probable ancestral area, from where the Opecarcinus lineage colonised the Western Atlantic and subsequently speciated into O. hypostegus. Opecarcinus likely invaded from the Indo-West Pacific across the East Pacific Barrier to the Atlantic, before the full closure of the Isthmus of Panama. The subsequent speciation of O. hypostegus, is possibly associated with newly available niches in the Caribbean, in combination with genetic isolation following the closure of the Panama Isthmus. 

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5. Five new species of Gloeandromyces (Fungi, Laboulbeniales) from tropical American bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae), revealed by morphology and phylogenetic reconstruction

   https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2023.2230114  

   Van_Caenegem, Warre; Blondelle, Aimée; Dumolein, Iris; Santamaria, Brianna; Dick, Carl W; Hiller, Thomas; Liu, Jingyu; Quandt, C Alisha; Villarreal_Saucedo, Rosa V; Verbeken, Annemieke; et al (September 2023, Mycologia)

   This paper describes and illustrates five new species of Gloeandromyces (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) associated with tropical American bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae). These are Gloeandromyces cusucoensis sp. nov. from Trichobius uniformis in Costa Rica and Honduras, G. diversiformis sp. nov. from Strebla wiedemanni in Costa Rica, G. plesiosaurus sp. nov. from Trichobius yunkeri in Panama, G. pseudodickii sp. nov. from Trichobius longipes in Ecuador and Panama, and G. verbekeniae sp. nov. from Strebla galindoi in Ecuador and Panama. The description of these five species doubles the number of known species in the genus. Morphological characteristics, host association, and a three-locus (18S nuc rDNA, 28S nuc rDNA, TEF1) phylogenetic reconstruction support placement of these taxa in the genus Gloeandromyces. Three of the new species are polymorphic; they have multiple morphotypes that grow in specific positions on the host integu ment: G. diversiformis f. diversiformis, f. musiformis, and f. vanillicarpiformis; G. plesiosaurus f. asymmetricus and f. plesiosaurus; and G. verbekeniae f. verbekeniae and f. inflexus. Finally, a dichotomous key to all species and morphotypes is presented. 

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