Marine crustaceans constitute one of the best studied groups in the Cuban waters. However, the level of systematic knowledge about them differs among the ecoregions of the platform. This paper presents the systematic list of hermit, porcelain and brachyuran crabs of the coast of Santiago de Cuba, on the southeast platform of Cuba. The records of the species have been compiled between 2009 and 2013, in ten locations, which differ in the type of habitats. Additional material was examined in the collection of the Universidad de Oriente Museum Charles Ramsdem. Eighty-one species are represented (seven hermits, eight porcelains and sixty-six true crabs). Data on their local and global distribution, their habitat, and notes on their reproductive period and fishing use are also provided.

Cuban biodiversity is characterized by high species richness and endemism; however, free-living flatworms have been neglected in studies of the fauna of the archipelago. These animals constitute an essential component of marine and freshwater ecosystems as top predators and secondary producers. In this contribution, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of turbellarian diversity in Cuba based on a long-term sampling effort in marine, brackish, freshwater and terrestrial environments. We used observed and estimated species richness as indicators of alpha diversity. As a result, we have collected, for the first time, 279 species in Cuba, including 189 species of rhabdocoels, 33 species of polyclads, 21 species of macrostomorphs, 14 species of proseriates, 12 species of prolecithophorans, seven species of triclads and one representative each of Prorhynchida, Gnosonesimida and Bothrioplanida. At least 184 species (67%) are new to science. Fifty of these species have been recorded in published journal contributions. The remainder are pending formal identification and/or description. We demonstrate the turbellarian fauna of Cuba to be one of high diversity and endemism. Estimated species richness is much higher than that observed, exemplifying the taxonomic impediments and stressing the need for more intense sampling campaigns in the archipelago.

A comprehensive morphological and taxonomic account of the members of the genus Cheliplana de Beauchamp, 1927 is presented. Six new species are described: Cheliplana asinaraensis n. sp., C. cubana n. sp., C. curacaoensis n. sp., C. hawaiiensis n. sp., C. longissima n. sp. and C. mauii n. sp. The new species are mainly distinguished from each other and from other representatives of Cheliplana by the organisation of the reproductive system and the structure of the cirrus. Furthermore, C. triductibus Van Steenkiste, Volonterio, Schockaert & Artois, 2008 is considered a junior synonym of Cheliplana deverticula Ax, 2008. The two subspecies of Cheliplana asica Marcus, 1952, C. asica asica and C. asica terminalis Brunet, 1968, are considered separate species. The systematic position of the genus Dactyloplana Armonies, 2018 is discussed, and its synonymy with Cheliplana is retained. As such, this brings the total number of species of Cheliplana to 49. Finally, we provide an identification key to the members of the genus, based on characters that enable identification to species level in the field.

The first records of Polycystididae from Cuba are provided and discussed. In total nine species have been collected, five of which are new to science, one representing a new genus. Polycydora intermedia gen. n. sp. n. shows intermediate features between Polycystis Kolliker, 1845 and Paulodora Marcus, 1948. The ovaries are kidney shaped, with the oocytes arranged in a row, and lack the hard "nozzles" of Paulodora. A female bursa as in Polycystis is present. In P. intermedia gen. n. sp. n. lacks the strong muscle bulb at the male bursa and the accessory glands type I in the male atrium, which are present in Polycystis. The male atrial organs include a prostate stylet type II connected to a free prostate vesicle type II. The four new species (Phonorhynchoides minor sp. n., Phonorhynchopsis capillaris sp. n., Phonorhynchopsis sublinguatus sp. n., Myobulla armenterosi sp. n.) are distinguished from their congeners by the specific shape and length of the male hard copulatory structures. Phonorhynchoides minor sp. n. has the smallest stylets within the genus, and these stylets are more straight than those of the other species of the genus. In Phonorhynchopsis capillaris sp. n. the prostate stylet type IV is only 20% of the length of the accessory stylet type IV, the lowest relative length within the genus. The accessory stylet in this species is extremely thin; it is only 2 mu m wide. Phonorhynchopsis sublinguatus sp. n. has a prostate stylet widened in the distal half, ending in a rounded tip, not twisted in the middle. Because of its strong resemblance to M. armenterosi sp. n., M. berti sp. n., a new species of Myobulla Artois & Schockaert, 2000 collected at the Atlantic coast of Panama is described here too. Both species of Myobulla have a prostate stylet type III that shows a 90 degrees turn at some point, as is the case in some other species of Myobulla. In M. berti sp. n. the stylet is smaller overall and is bent in the middle; in M. armenterosi sp. n. the stylet is larger and it is bent more distally. All of the four known species have a very wide geographical distribution: Phonorhynchopsis haegheni, Alcha evelinae, Paraustrorhynchus elixus, and Gyratrix hermaph-roditus.

The taxon Koinocystididae is the third most species-rich family within Eukalyptorhynchia. However, its diversity and phylogeny have been largely neglected in former studies. We introduce three new genera and twelve new species of Koinocystididae including Simplexcystis asymmetrica gen. n. sp. n., Galapagetula cubensis sp. n., eight species of Reinhardorhynchus gen. n. and two species of Itaipusa. This raises the total number of species within Koinocystididae from 51 to 63. We also report on new distribution records for six known species: I. divae (Cuba, Panama and New Caledonia), I. karlingi (Sardinia and Lanzarote), Reinhardorhynchus riegeri comb. n. (Cuba), R. ruffinjonesi comb. n. (Cuba and Panama), Utelga heinckei (Cuba and Lanzarote), and U. pseudoheinckei (Sardinia). Simplexcystis asymmetrica gen. n. sp. n. is characterised by a male duct running eccentrically through the copulatory bulb, lack of any hard structures in the male system, lack of a bursa, and the fact that the epithelia of the female, the male, and part of the common atrium are covered by a brush border. Galapagetula cubensis sp. n. has a caudal gonopore, a divisa-type copulatory bulb with an unarmed penis papilla, and a female duct without a sphincter. The new species of Itaipusa and Reinhardorhynchus gen. n. differ from their congeners in the detailed structure of the copulatory bulb and especially the hard structures associated with it. In a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on all available 18S and 28S rDNA sequences of koinocystidids, we found support for the monophyly of the family and the genus Utelga Marcus, 1949. The genus Itaipusa is not monophyletic in that I. sinensis forms a clade with Rhinolasius dillonicus, while other species of Itaipusa that have a copulatory bulb armed with hooks form a clade together with Sekerana stolzi. As the type species of Itaipusa (I. divae) is in neither of these clades, we erected a new genus for I. sinensis (Koinogladius gen. n.) and one for species of Itaipusa having a hook-bearing copulatory bulb (Reinhardorhynchus gen. n.), respectively. Whether the remaining species of Itaipusa form a monophylum remains uncertain.

In light of the ongoing freshwater biodiversity crisis, detailed knowledge regarding the spatial distribution of freshwater species is urgently required, especially in biodiversity hotspots. Here we present a database of georeferenced occurrence records of four freshwater invertebrate taxa groups across Cuba, namely flatworms (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida), insects (Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Hemiptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera), crabs and shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda), and mollusks (Mollusca). We collated the geographic occurrence information from scientific literature, unpublished field records, museum collections and online databases. The database, comprising 6292 records of 457 species at 1075 unique localities, is organized in 32 fields that contain the information about the taxonomic classification of each recorded species, the sex and life stage of collected individuals; the geographic coordinates, location, author and date of the record and a reference to the original data source. This database provides an important basis towards an improved understanding of the spatial distribution of freshwater biodiversity in Cuba.