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Creators/Authors contains: "Marek, Paul E"

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  1. A third species of the macrosternodesmid millipede genus Nevadesmus Shear, 2009 is described from a cave in Tonto National Forest, Pinal Co., southern Arizona, USA. This new species, Nevadesmus superstitiona Shear, Pape & Marek, sp. nov. occurs significantly distant from the localities of the two other species, which occur in Nevada. The epigean and hypogean settings of the cave site and remarks on its natural history are provided. Thirty-two animal taxa are present in the cave, including the new millipede. Four other endemic troglobiotic species are present: a scorpion (Pseudouroctonus sp.: Vaejovidae), a terrestrial isopod (Brackenridgia sp.: Trichoniscidae), a silverfish (Speleonycta sp.: Nicoletiidae) and a thread-legged bug (Gardena cf. elkinsi: Reduviidae). A resident population of the tailless whip scorpion (Paraphrynus tokdod: Amblypygi: Phrynidae) is the first record of this family in an Arizona Cave. Tonto National Forest Cave #34 is the second most species diverse cave currently known in Arizona. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 20, 2026
  2. This correspondence addresses the taxonomic status of Spirostreptus strangulatus Humbert & de Saussure, 1870 (Spirostreptida: Spirostreptidea: Spirostreptidae), and its formal transfer to the genus Pseudonannolene Silvestri, 1895: Pseudonannolene strangulata comb. nov. (Spirostreptida: Cambalidea: Pseudonannolenidae). 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 24, 2026
  3. The millipede genus Apterourus Loomis, 1966, the only genus of the family Apterouridae Loomis, 1966 (Diplopoda: Chordeumatida: Striarioidea), contains two species and is rarely collected. We add a third species from Mt. Palomar, San Diego County, California, USA, Apterourus palomar Shear, Richart and Marek, new species. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 28, 2026
  4. We revise the millipede genus Apheloria Chamberlin, 1921—a colorful and often encountered group of millipedes in eastern North America. With molecular phylogenetics, we estimate the evolutionary history of the genus, and use it in combination with morphology to understand species diversity. We describe a new species, Apheloria uwharrie sp. nov. from North and South Carolina, synonymize Apheloria tigana Chamberlin, 1939 syn. nov. with Apheloria virginiensis (Drury, 1770), and remove Apheloria luminosa (Kenyon, 1893) syn. nov. from the genus and place it in synonymy with Pleuroloma flavipes Rafinesque, 1820. Currently there are six species of Apheloria: Apheloria corrugata (Wood, 1864) stat. nov.; Apheloria montana (Bollman, 1887); Apheloria polychroma Marek, Means & Hennen, 2018; Apheloria uwharrie sp. nov.; Apheloria virginiensis (Drury, 1770); and Apheloria whiteheadi (Shelley, 1986). 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available October 3, 2026
  5. The genus Benlomondia Shear & Marek, gen. nov., and two new species, Benlomondia benlomondensis Shear & Marek, sp. nov., and Benlomondia mateo Shear & Marek, sp. nov., are described from Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties, California, respectively. The new genus is similar to, but distinct from, Opiona Chamberlin, 1951. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available July 4, 2026
  6. Paropiona Shear & Marek, gen. nov. is described from northwestern and central Washington State, USA. It includes two new species, Paropiona gardneri Shear & Marek, sp. nov. from Pacific and Cowlitz Counties, and Paropiona aenigma Shear & Marek, sp. nov. from Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Thurston and Wahakiakum Counties. Opionoides Shear & Marek, gen. nov. is monotypic with only Opionoides cataracta Shear & Marek, sp. nov. from Coos Co. Oregon. The new genera are related to, but distinct from the genus Opiona Chamberlin, 1951. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available May 5, 2026
  7. The identity of Striaria californica Cook, described in 1899 from a single female, is established on the basis of additional specimens collected by Cook in 1929 and determined to be that species by Loomis (1936) as well as specimens from the San Francisco Bay region, likely to be from near the original collection locality. We propose Amplaria californica (Cook, 1899) new combination. A new genus, Bayaria Shear & Marek n. gen., is established for Striaria nana Loomis, 1936 Bayaria nana (Loomis, 1936) new combination. Striaria carmela Chamberlin, 1947, is a junior synonym of Bayaria nana. A key to the 16 genera of Striariidae and an annotated checklist of the 52 species are provided. 
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  8. Subterranean arthropods are important components of soils and contribute essential food-web functions and other ecosystem services, however, their diversity and community composition has scarcely been assessed. Subterranean pitfall traps are a commonly used method for sampling soil habitats in Europe but have never been widely implemented in the Americas. We used subterranean pitfall traps to sample previously unsurveyed arthropod communities in southwestern Virginia, U.S. Traps were placed in shallow subterranean habitats (SSHs), underground habitats close to the surface where light does not penetrate, and more specifically at the interface between the soil and underlying “milieu souterrain superficiel”—a microhabitat consisting of the air-filled interstitial spaces between rocks (abbreviated MSS). In total, 2,260 arthropod specimens were collected constituting 345 morphospecies from 8 classes, 33 orders, and 94 families. A region of the mitochondrial cytochromecoxidase subunit I (COI) gene was amplified and sequenced, and objective sequence clustering of 3% was used to establish molecular operational taxonomic units (mOTUs) to infer observed species richness. In all, 272 COI barcodes representing 256 mOTUs were documented for rare soil-dwelling arthropod taxa and are published to build a molecular library for future research in this system. This work is the first taxonomically extensive survey of North American soil-dwelling arthropods greater than 10 cm below the soil surface. 
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  9. Ormia ochracea is a parasitoid fly notable for its impressive hearing abilities relative to its small size. Here, we use it as a model organism to investigate if minor size differences in paired sensory organs may be beneficial or neutral to an organism's perception abilities. We took high-resolution images of tympanal organs from 21 O. ochracea specimens and found a statistically significant surface area asymmetry (up to 6.88%) between the left and right membranes. Numerical experiments indicated that peak values of key sound localization variables increased with increasing tympanal asymmetry, which may explain features of the limited available physiological data. 
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  10. We describe three new genera and four new species of small, litter-dwelling millipedes from the states of Oregon and Washington, USA: Miniaria ramifera, n. gen., n. sp., Miniaria richarti, n. gen., n. sp., Tigraria oregonensis, n. gen., n. sp., and Kingaria prattensis, n. gen., n. sp. Some of the unusual characters of these species are discussed, including a new type of sensory array on the third tarsus of males and a newly observed mandibular gland. 
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