The distribution of the funnel-web spider genus Macrothele was studied in the Ryukyu Islands and northern Taiwan. Six species are recognized, three of which are only known from Taiwan (Macrothele holsti Pocock, 1901, M. simplicata (Saito, 1933), and M. taiwanensis sp. n.). Three new species are described from Amami-oshima and Tokunoshima in the northern Ryukyus (M. amamiensis sp. n.) and from Ishigaki and Iriomote of the Yaeyama Islands (M. yaginumai sp. n. and M. gigas sp. n.).

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About 20% of individuals of the comatulid crinoid Comanthina nobilis (Carpenter, 1884) at Shionomisaki, the southernmost point of the island of Honshu, Japan, are infested by the cysticolous myzostomidan worm originally described as Myzostoma platypus Graff, 1887. Up to four cysts per host occur. This parasite had been collected previously only in the Philippines by the 'Challenger' Expedition, from the same host species. The present specimens differ in having a few to many supernumerary marginal cirri and up to six (versus three to five) separate tabular outgrowths in a row along the ventral midline. It is proposed to reassign this species as the most plesiomorphic member of the genus Notopharyngoides Uchida, 1992.

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The classification of the mite family Phytoseiidae in Japan is revised. The 77 species recognized from Japan are assigned to three subfamilies, five tribes, nine genera, and 11 subgenera. Moreover, three large subgenera are divided into a total of 16 different species groups. A new tribe, Indoseiulini, is proposed, Okiseius Ehara, 1967 is reduced to a subgenus of Amblyseius, and three new species, Amblyseius (Proprioseiopsis} nemotoi, Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) pseudopyri, and T. (T.) armiger, are described. Additionally, there is a possibility that 'Japanese Amblyseius cucumeris', which was recently reported from Saitama Prefecture in a popular book, is not A. cucumeris (Oudemans), but A. paraki Ehara, a rather common species in Saitama Prefecture. The biology of Japanese phytoseiid mites is also examined, and on this basis the species diversity of the phytoseiid fauna in Japan is interpreted. Finally, relationships between phytoseiid taxa and biological characters are discussed.

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Seventeen species of Odonata were collected in 1994-1996 from 21 localities in the Kuril Islands. Mnais pruinosa, Aeshna nigroflava, Cordulia aenea, and Pseudothemis zonata are first records from the archipelago, and the last species represents a significant range extension from Honshu. Enallagma belyshevi is synonymized with E. circulatum, which is considered a valid species rather than a subspecies of E. boreale.

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A new species of pandalid shrimp, Pandalopsis lucidirimicola, is described. This colorful species occurs in shallow, current-swept areas of Washington State, U. S. A., and southern British Columbia, Canada. It is readily distinguished from other eastern Pacific Pandalopsis by a number of characters including an unusually large number of carpus articulations of the second pereopod and a relatively short outer antennular flagellum and rostrum. Juveniles often associate with the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus franciscanus, while adults reside in deep crevices and under boulders. Like many other species in the genus, it appears to be a protandric hermaphrodite.

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A new genus and species of Myzostomida is described by means of light and electron microscopy. Mycomyzostoma calcidicola is a parasitic myzostome inducing cysts on the stalks of Saracrinus nobilis, a crinoid collected around New Caledonia. The main characteristics of the species are the unusual body shape of the female, the total regression of the female parapodia, the absence of digestive caeca in the females, the total regression of the digestive system in the males, and the site of the cysts. The discovery of M. calcidicola re-opens the debate about the probable myzostomidan origin of parasitic traces occurring on pre-Pennsylvanian crinoid stalks.

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Ulucoccus gombakensis and U. danumensis are recorded from Sarawak and Luzon, respectively. Some characters are variable in the adult female of U. danumensis and local forms are recognized. The two species are remarkably different in the first instar in spite of the similar adult females. The significance of Ulucoccus, a supposedly primitive relict, is mentioned in connection with polymorphism of the second instar larva of the family Diaspididae.

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Chionelasmus darwini (Pilsbry, 1907) was first collected at 417 to 430m depth near Kauai, Hawaiian Islands. Pilsbry (1911) subsequently recognized that it was distinct from Catophragmus s. s. and proposed the subgenus Chionelasmus to accommodate it. Nilsson-Cantell (1928) elevated Chionelasmus to full generic rank based on a complete specimen collected from 526m depth off Port Mathurin, Rodrigues Island in the western Indian Ocean, largely because the wall turned out to be composed of six rather than eight plates. These two specimens plus 11 specimens from the Hawaiian Islands and three specimens from Madagascar contained in the Benthic Invertebrate Collection of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and one from the Kermadec Islands of the South Pacific (Foster 1981), were utilized in the present study. The morphology of the scutum and tergum and the ontogenetic development of the third and fourth whorls of basal imbricating plates in the Pacific and Indian Ocean populations are different, and therefore a new subspecies, Chionelasmus darwini cantelli, is proposed for the latter.

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The Japanese species of Protonemura are treated, and the differential characters of each are illustrated. Besides four previously known species, P. curvata Zhiltzova, 1981 (new to Japan), P. ermolenkoi Zhiltzova, 1982 (new to Japan, and first description of the female), P. hotakana (Ueno, 1931), and P. towadensis (Kawai, 1954) (first description of the female), eight species are described as new to science : P. angulata, P. baumanni, P. excavata, P. hakkodana, P. kohnoae, P. orbiculata, P. seticollis, and P. strumosa. They are assigned to four groups by similarities of the male terminalia, and a key to the groups is given. In addition, one undetermined female of this genus is recorded from Okinawa Island, southwest Japan, and is illustrated.

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