Ligophorus belanakin. sp. andLigophorus kederain. sp. are described fromLiza subviridisValenciennes, 1836 andValamugil buchananiBleeker, 1854, respectively.Ligophorus kederain. sp. has fenestrated ventral anchors, while inL. belanakin. sp. the ventral anchor is not fenestrated.Ligophorus belanakin. sp. is similar toL. careyensis, one of its coexisting congeners, in the overall shape and size of hard parts, but differs in having a flat median piece in the structure of the AMP (antero-median protuberance of the ventral bar), copulatory organ with non-ornamented initial part and longer vaginal tube, compared to raised median piece in the AMP, ornamented initial part and comparatively shorter vaginal tube inL. careyensis.Ligophorus kederain. sp. is similar toL. fenestrum, a coexisting congener, in having fenestrated ventral anchors, but differs in having longer points and narrower base.Ligophorus fenestrum, unlikeL. kederain. sp., also possesses fenestrated dorsal anchors. The principal component analysis (PCA) scatterplots indicate that the two new and eight knownLigophorusspecies from Malaysian mugilids can be differentiated based on the morphometries of their anchors, ventral bars and copulatory organ separately and when combined together. Numerical taxonomy (NT) analyses based on Jaccard's Index of Similarity and neighbour-joining clustering, is used to facilitate comparison of these two new species with the 50 knownLigophorusbased on morphological and metric characters. The two new species are different from each other and the other 50 species in the overall shapes and sizes of hard parts, as indicated by the NT analyses.

Background.Anchors are one of the important attachment appendages for monogenean parasites. Common descent and evolutionary processes have left their mark on anchor morphometry, in the form of patterns of shape and size variation useful for systematic and evolutionary studies. When combined with morphological and molecular data, analysis of anchor morphometry can potentially answer a wide range of biological questions.Materials and Methods.We used data from anchor morphometry, body size and morphology of 13Ligophorus(Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae) species infecting two marine mugilid (Teleostei: Mugilidae) fish hosts:Moolgarda buchanani(Bleeker) andLiza subviridis(Valenciennes) from Malaysia. Anchor shape and size data (n= 530) were generated using methods of geometric morphometrics. We used 28S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and ITS1 sequence data to infer a maximum likelihood phylogeny. We discriminated species using principal component and cluster analysis of shape data. Adams’sK_multwas used to detect phylogenetic signal in anchor shape. Phylogeny-correlated size and shape changes were investigated using continuous character mapping and directional statistics, respectively. We assessed morphological constraints in anchor morphometry using phylogenetic regression of anchor shape against body size and anchor size. Anchor morphological integration was studied using partial least squares method. The association between copulatory organ morphology and anchor shape and size in phylomorphospace was used to test the Rohde-Hobbs hypothesis. We created monogeneaGM, a new R package that integrates analyses of monogenean anchor geometric morphometric data with morphological and phylogenetic data.Results.We discriminated 12 of the 13Ligophorusspecies using anchor shape data. Significant phylogenetic signal was detected in anchor shape. Thus, we discovered new morphological characters based on anchor shaft shape, the length between the inner root point and the outer root point, and the length between the inner root point and the dent point. The species onM. buchananievolved larger, more robust anchors; those onL. subviridisevolved smaller, more delicate anchors. Anchor shape and size were significantly correlated, suggesting constraints in anchor evolution. Tight integration between the root and the point compartments within anchors confirms the anchor as a single, fully integrated module. The correlation between male copulatory organ morphology and size with anchor shape was consistent with predictions from the Rohde-Hobbs hypothesis.Conclusions.Monogenean anchors are tightly integrated structures, and their shape variation correlates strongly with phylogeny, thus underscoring their value for systematic and evolutionary biology studies. Our MonogeneaGM R package provides tools for researchers to mine biological insights from geometric morphometric data of speciose monogenean genera.

We present here the first observation of Bipalium admarginatum de Beauchamp, 1933 since its original description 90 years ago. Three specimens were found on Perhentian Kecil Island, off Terengganu State, Malaysia and photographed in the field, and two were collected. This report thus includes the first colour photographs published for this species, from a locality close to the type-locality, Tioman Island (which is ca. 200 km south of the locality in this study, on the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia). We describe the external morphology and colour pattern of the species, which correspond well to the original description, itself based only on two preserved specimens. We performed an in-depth molecular characterisation of the species, including its complete mitochondrial genome, the 18S sequence and elongation 1-alpha (EF1-α) sequence. In addition, EF1-α sequences were also retrieved for 5 additional geoplanid species. No tRNA-Thr could be detected in the mitogenome of B. admarginatum, a lack already reported in several species of geoplanids, but we found a 13 bp sequence that contains the anticodon loop and seems to be conserved among geoplanids and might thus possibly represent a non-canonical undetected tRNA. We discuss the difficulties encountered in trying to reconstruct the cluster of nuclear ribosomal genes, a problem already mentioned for other Triclads. Three phylogenies, based respectively on all mitochondrial proteins, 18S, and EF1-α, were computed; the position of B. admarginatum within the Bipaliinae was confirmed in each tree, as sister-group to various bipaliine species according to the sequences available for each tree. In the mitochondrial proteins tree, which had high support, B. admarginatum was sister to Bipalium kewense and Diversibipalium multilineatum.

Oil spills are a common occurrence that threatens marine life, necessitating sustainable remediation methods. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes are known for their hydrophobicity, chemical resistance, and thermal stability, but they are hindered by naturally low porosity due to the high-density polymer structure. To address this limitation, a porous polymer with synergistic properties was required. In this study, kapok (Ceiba pentandra) fibers, which possess high porosity, were acetylated to improve their chemical stability and then blended with PVDF. The development of this oil-absorbing PVDF/CTA membrane aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. The kapok-derived CTA was characterized to confirm its high degree of substitution (2.9) and solubility in non-polar solvents. Converting kapok fiber into CTA improved its thermal stability, and the combination of crystalline and amorphous regions in CTA provided a balance between flexibility and structural integrity. The molecular conformation of CTA was verified by 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. Incorporating CTA into the PVDF membrane significantly increased its porosity by 16%, enhancing oil absorption capacity. Only 1.828 m² of the PC3 membrane, compared with 2.656 m² of PC0, was required to absorb 1 kg of crude oil. The findings of this study strongly indicate that producing kapok-derived CTA can overcome the low porosity limitations of neat PVDF membranes. The membrane's surface area could be further maximized by incorporating it into a cassette-style flow cell membrane. High-porosity PVDF/CTA membranes thus have the potential to be an efficient solution for oil spill remediation in marine environments.