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Gymnures are an ancient group of small insectivorous mammals and are characterized by a controversial taxonomic status and the lack of a description of karyotypes for certain species. In this study, conventional cytogenetic techniques (Giemsa, CBG- and GTG-banding, Ag-NOR), CMA3-DAPI staining, and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with telomeric DNA probes were used to examine for the first time the karyotypes of lesser gymnures of group Hylomyssuillus Müller, 1840 from northern and southern Vietnam. All studied specimens had karyotypes with 2n=48, NFa=64. C-positive heterochromatic blocks existed in centromeric regions of 7 bi-armed autosomes and the submetacentric X chromosome. The Y chromosome is a C-positive and dot-like. The nucleolus organizer regions resided terminally on the short arms of 2 small bi-armed pairs. Positive signals at the telomeres of all chromosomes were revealed by FISH. CMA3-positive blocks were localized on the telomeric and pericentric regions of most bi-armed and acrocentric chromosomes. Despite the large genetic distances between Hylomys Müller, 1840, lesser gymnures from H.suillus-group from northern and southern Vietnam have similar karyotypic characteristics.

The earliest information on Sri Lankan echinoid species belonging to the Irregularia dates back to Alexander Agassiz (1872). However, the current knowledge of diversity and distribution of irregular echinoids from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) remains sparse. In addition, there are no recent taxonomic studies or biodiversity surveys for irregular echinoids, and no illustrated field-guides or reference collections are available specifically for Sri Lanka. To address these gaps, left open for more than 100 years since the work of Clark (1915), this study was conducted as an island-wide systematic sampling survey. Over 200 echinoid specimens were collected from 24 localities in Sri Lankan coastal waters by snorkelling and SCUBA diving down to 33 m depth. The collected specimens were identified using existing keys and authenticated with specimens available at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria. The present study records 22 irregular echinoid species belonging to 15 genera and nine families in four orders. Among the identified irregular echinoids, six species, Echinocyamus megapetalus H.L. Clark, 1914, Fibularia ovulum Lamarck, 1816, Fibulariella angulipora Mortensen, 1948, Echinodiscus cf. truncatus L. Agassiz, 1841, Peronella oblonga Mortensen, 1948 and Brissus cf. agassizii Döderlein, 1885, are new records for Sri Lanka. Four unidentified, possibly new species belonging to the genera Fibularia, Jacksonaster and Metalia are reported, but kept in open nomenclature until more material becomes available. At present, the diversity of irregular echinoids from Sri Lanka now stands at 37 species representing 11 families in four orders. A dichotomous key is presented for all Sri Lankan irregular echinoids.

Koehleraster abnormalis (de Loriol, 1883) Figures 7, 10–12 1883 Echinoneus abnormalis de Loriol: p. 41; pl. 5:fig. 2. 1948a Echinoneus abnormalis de Loriol. —Mortensen: p. 80–81; pl. 12: figs. 20, 22. Material studied. Two denuded tests: WUSL /EI/8 from Hiriketiya and WUSL /EI/9 from Baththalangunduwa 1, Sri Lanka. Description. Shape and size —Test small to medium-sized, ovoid, 20.4 and 21.8 mm TL, TW 76 and 77% TL, height 47% TL. Apical system —Tetrabasal; four gonopores, situated slightly anterior of centre of aboral surface, approximately 45% TL from anterior margin of test. Ambulacra —Non-petaloid; interporiferous zone not elevated; pore-zone depressed and narrow; pores on oral surface smaller and closer together than those on aboral surface. Tuberculation —Test surface densely covered by small, perforate, non-crenulate primary tubercles; ring of imperforate and non-crenulate miliary tubercles more or less evenly distributed among primary tubercles; primary tubercles on aboral surface smaller than those on oral surface. Peristome —Smaller than periproct, length approximately 15% and 16% TL; width 17% and 21% TL; irregularly oval to triangular in shape, pointed towards interambulacrum 2 and 4, moderately sunken, situated slightly anterior to centre of oral surface, c. 47% TL from anterior margin of test to anterior edge of peristome. Periproct —Larger than peristome, length 25% and 29% TL; width 15% and 17% TL; teardrop-shaped, slightly pointed toward peristome, longitudinally elongate; located orally in interambulacrum 5, close to peristome, 13% TL from posterior margin of test to posterior edge of periproct. Geographic range. Indo-West Pacific, from Mauritius (de Loriol 1883), East Indies (Mortensen 1948a) to Coral Sea (Miskelly 2002), South Pacific Islands (Clark 1925a; Mortensen 1948a) and Hawaiian Islands (Clark 1917). Bathymetric range. Littoral to 85 m (Mortensen 1948a). Observed occurrence in Sri Lanka. Dead specimens were found among biogenic sands at Hiriketiya Bay Beach on the southern coast of Sri Lanka and in a coarse sand patch in a sea grass bed at 9 m in Baththalangunduwa on the north-western coast of Sri Lanka (Fig. 12). This species was first recorded from Sri Lanka by Fernando (2006). Remarks. Collected materials indicate that two genera of echinoneids occur in Sri Lankan waters. At Hiriketiya Bay Beach, dead specimens of E. cyclostomus and K. abnormalis occur together. As no live specimens of both species were collected together in their original habitat, it is inconclusive whether these two species cooccur in the same habitat. Mortensen (1948a: 81) suggests that the two species do not co-occur at the same localities., Published as part of Arachchige, Gayashan M., Jayakody, Sevvandi, Mooi, Rich & Kroh, Andreas, 2019, Taxonomy and distribution of irregular echinoids (Echinoidea: Irregularia) from Sri Lanka, pp. 1-100 in Zootaxa 4541 (1) on pages 16-19, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4541.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/2617460, {"references":["De Loriol, P. (1883) Catalogue raisonne des Echinodermes recueillis par MV de Robillard a l'ile Maurice. Memoires de la Societe de physique et d'histoire naturelle de Geneve, 28, 1 - 64.","Mortensen, T. (1948 a) A Monograph of the Echinoidea IV. 1. Holectypoida, Cassiduloida. C. A. Reitzel, Copenhagen, 371 pp.","Miskelly, A. (2002) Sea urchins of Australia and the Indo-Pacific. Capricornica Publications, Lindfield, 179 pp.","Clark, H. L. (1925 a) A Catalogue of the Recent Sea-Urchins (Echinoidea) in the Collection of the British Museum (Natural History). Oxford University Press, London, 250 pp.","Clark, H. L. (1917) Hawaiian and other Pacific Echini, Echinoneidae, Nucleolitidae, Urechinidae, Echinocorythidae, Calymnidae, Pourtalesiidae, Palaestomatidae, Aeropsidae, Palaeopneustidae, Hemiasteridae, and Spatangidae. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, 46, 81 - 283.","Fernando, M. (2006) Coral associated invertebrates: An overview of the current taxonomic status. In: Bambaradeniya, C. N. B. (Ed.), The Fauna of Sri Lanka, Section 3: Status of Marine Fauna in Sri Lanka. IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Gland, pp. 259 - 273."]}

Echinoneus cyclostomus Leske, 1778 Figures 5���9 Material studied. Three denuded tests: WUSL /EI/5, EI/6, and EI/7 from Hiriketiya, Sri Lanka. Description. Size and shape ���Test ovoid, small to medium-sized, 20.4���36.6 mm TL; width 75���85% TL, height 48���50% TL. Apical system ���Tetrabasal; four gonopores, situated close to centre of aboral surface, approximately 50% TL from anterior margin of test. Ambulacra ���Non-petaloid; interporiferous zone distinctly elevated; pore zones depressed and narrow; pores larger on aboral surface. Tuberculation ���Primary tubercles imperforate and non-crenulate, primary tubercles on oral surface larger than aboral ones; miliary tubercles more or less evenly distributed among primary tubercles; numerous, densely distributed glassy tubercles on aboral surface, equal in size to primary tubercles; tuberculation of interporiferous zone in ambulacra similar to that in interambulacra. Peristome ���Small relative to periproct; length c. 15% TL, width c. 20% TL; irregularly oval to triangular; slightly pointed towards interambulacra 2 and 4; moderately sunken; situated approximately 46% TL from anterior margin of test to anterior edge of peristome. Periproct ���Large, length 23���25% TL, width 14���16% TL; teardrop-shaped, pointed towards peristome, anterior-posteriorly elongated; situated posteriorly, approximately 15% TL from posterior margin of test. Geographic range. Indo-West Pacific, from West Indies, South East Arabia (Mortensen 1948c), Mauritius (de Loriol 1883; Clark 1925a), Maldives area (Bell 1909; Koehler 1922), Sri Lanka (Bell 1887a; Herdman et al. 1904), Bay of Bengal (Bell 1887b; Clark 1925a), North Australia (Clark 1938) and East Indies (Clark 1950) to China & South Japan (Mortensen 1948a), Philippine Islands (Clark 1949), South Pacific Islands (Clark 1952) and Hawaiian Islands (Clark 1925b). Bathymetric range. 0���120 m (Rowe & Gates 1995). Observed occurrence in Sri Lanka. Dead specimens were collected on the shore among biogenic sands at Hiriketiya and Polhena Beach along the southern coast of Sri Lanka (Fig. 9). This species was first recorded from Sri Lanka by Bell (1882), then by Clark (1925a) and recently recorded by Fernando (2006). The bathymetric range of this species in Sri Lanka is 0��� 100 m. Remarks. Test shape of the largest specimen (WUSL/EI/5) found in the present study differs from the other two studied specimens. Differences include a more rounded test, truncated posterior margin, abnormalities in the pore zones of ambulacra I, II and III which narrow towards the interporiferous zone close to the apical system, and robust test (Fig. 5). The apical system of this specimen is located approximately half-way (51% TL) towards the posterior from the anterior margin of the test. The distorted symmetry of the specimen suggests that it may has been damaged by at some stage during its life, but almost completely regenerated the damage. However, a similar observation has been recorded by Mortensen (1948a: 78) in E. abruptus H.L. Clark, 1925 (subjective junior synonym of E. cyclostomus)., Published as part of Arachchige, Gayashan M., Jayakody, Sevvandi, Mooi, Rich & Kroh, Andreas, 2019, Taxonomy and distribution of irregular echinoids (Echinoidea: Irregularia) from Sri Lanka, pp. 1-100 in Zootaxa 4541 (1) on pages 11-14, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4541.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/2617460, {"references":["Mortensen, T. (1948 c) Report on the Echinoidea of the Murray Expedition. II [Irregular Echinoidea]. Scientific Reports on the John Murray Expedition, 9, 1 - 15.","De Loriol, P. (1883) Catalogue raisonne des Echinodermes recueillis par MV de Robillard a l'ile Maurice. Memoires de la Societe de physique et d'histoire naturelle de Geneve, 28, 1 - 64.","Clark, H. L. (1925 a) A Catalogue of the Recent Sea-Urchins (Echinoidea) in the Collection of the British Museum (Natural History). Oxford University Press, London, 250 pp.","Bell, F. J. (1909) Report on the Echinoderma (other than holothurians) collected by Mr. Stanley Gardiner in the western parts of the Indian Ocean. Transactions of the Linnaean Society of London, Zoology, 13, 12 - 22. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.1909. tb 00406. x","Koehler, R. (1922) Echinoderma of the Indian Museum, Part 9, An account of the Echinoidea. II. Clypeastrides et Cassidulides. Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 161 pp.","Bell, F. J. (1887 a) The echinoderm fauna of the island of Ceylon. Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, 3, 643 - 658.","Herdman, W. A., Herdman, J. B. & Bell, F. J. (1904) Report on the Echinoderma collected by Professor Herdman, at Ceylon, in 1902. In: Herdman, W. A. (Ed.), Report to the government of Ceylon on the pearl oyster fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar. The Royal Society, London, pp. 137 - 150.","Bell, F. J. (1887 b) Report on a collection of Echinodermata from the Andaman Islands. Journal of Zoology, 55, 139 - 145. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1096 - 3642.1887. tb 02953. x","Clark, H. L. (1938) Echinoderms from Australia. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of the Harvard College, 55, 1 - 596.","Clark, A. H. (1950) Echinoderms from the Cocos-Keeling Islands. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, 22, 53 - 67.","Mortensen, T. (1948 a) A Monograph of the Echinoidea IV. 1. Holectypoida, Cassiduloida. C. A. Reitzel, Copenhagen, 371 pp.","Clark, A. H. (1949) Some littoral sea-urchins from the Philippines. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 39, 271 - 272.","Clark, H. L. (1925 b) Marine zoology of tropical central Pacific: Echinoderms other than sea-stars. Bulletin of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, 27, 89 - 111.","Rowe, F. W. E. & Gates, J. (1995) Echinodermata. In: Wells, A. (Ed.), Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 33. CSIRO, Melbourne, pp. i-xiii + 1 - 510.","Bell, F. J. (1882) Note on the echinoderm-fauna of the island of Ceylon, together with some observations on heteractinism, XIX. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 5, 10, 218 - 225. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222938209459697","Fernando, M. (2006) Coral associated invertebrates: An overview of the current taxonomic status. In: Bambaradeniya, C. N. B. (Ed.), The Fauna of Sri Lanka, Section 3: Status of Marine Fauna in Sri Lanka. IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Gland, pp. 259 - 273."]}

* Echinoneus cyclostomus Leske, 1778 Fig. 52 A���D. Echinoneus elegans: A. Agassiz, 1863: 25. Echinoneus cyclostomus: Alcock & Anderson, 1894: 194; H.L. Clark, 1925a: 177. Pl. X, Figs 1���3; Mortensen, 1948d: 75 ���80. Pl. I, Figs 14, 26. Pl. XII, Figs 21, 23; Schultz, 2010: 287, Figs 549���550; Filander & Griffiths, 2014: 54 ���55. Pl. II, Fig. E. Material examined. SAMC-A28221; SAMC-A28212; SAMC-A28225; SAMC-A28234. Identification. Test elongated, slightly doomed aborally, orally concave. Ambulacra pore zones narrow���not forming petaloid, conspicuous glassy knobs aborally. Peristome triangular shaped, centrally positioned. Denuded test light brown. Spines short, brownish, uniform. Global maximum size. Maximum test length 50 mm. Global distribution. Atlantic Ocean, from Caribbean to Brazil and Tropical West Africa; also Indo-Pacific, from east coast of South Africa (Filander & Griffiths 2014) to Hawaii and Easter Islands and from Japan to northern Australia and Lord Howe Island; littoral to 570 m (Mortensen 1948d; Schultz 2010). Remarks. There used to be two species in this genus. The second species��� Echinoneus abnormalis, was moved to its own genus (Koehleraster) based on absence of glassy tubercles and perforated tubercles (Schultz 2010)., Published as part of Filander, Zoleka & Griffiths, Charles, 2017, Illustrated guide to the echinoid (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) fauna of South Africa, pp. 1-72 in Zootaxa 4296 (1) on page 47, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4296.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/843325, {"references":["Leske, N. G. (1778) Jacobi Theodori Klein naturalis disposition echinodermatum..., edita et Identificationibus novisque inventis et synonomis auctorem aucta. Addimenta ad I. T. Klein naturalem dispositionem Echinodermatum. G. E. Beer, Leipzig, 278 pp.","Agassiz, A. (1863) List of the echinoderms sent to different institutions in exchange for other specimens, with annotations. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, 1, 253 - 308.","Alcock, A. & Anderson, A. R. S. (1894) Natural history notes from HM Indian marine survey steamer '' Investigator' ', commander CF Oldham, RN, commanding. Series II, No. 14. An account of a recent collection of deep sea Crustacea from the Bay of Bengal and Laccadive Sea. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 63, 141 - 185.","Clark, H. L. (1925 a) A Catalogue of the Recent Sea-urchins (Echinoidea) in the Collection of the British Museum (Natural History). Trustees of the British Museum, London, 250 pp.","Mortensen, T., (1948 d) A Monograph of the Echinoidea. IV. 2. Clypeasteroidea. Arachnoididae, Fibulariidae, Laganidae and Scutellidae. Reitzel, Copenhagen, pp. 471.","Schultz, H. (2010) Sea-Urchins, a Guide to Worldwide Shallow Water Species. 3 rd Edition. Scientific Publication, Hemdingen, 484 pp.","Filander, Z. & Griffiths, C. L. (2014) Additions to and revision of the South African echinoid fauna (Echinodermata: Echinoidea). African Natural History, 10, 47 - 56."]}

Background Research on echinoderms in Mexico began in the late nineteenth century. We present a dataset that includes the taxonomic and geographic information of irregular echinoids from Mexico, housed in four collections: 1) Colección Nacional de Equinodermos “Ma. Elena Caso Muñoz” from the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (ICML), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); 2) Invertebrate Zoology Collection, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., United States of America (USA); 3) Invertebrate Collection, Museum of Comparative Zoology, University of Harvard, Boston, Massachusetts, USA and 4) Invertebrate Zoology, Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. New information A total of six orders, 17 families, 35 genera and 68 species are reported, 37 distributed in the Pacific coast and 31 in the Atlantic coast, none of them was found in both coasts. The most diverse region is the Gulf of California (S=32); the most diverse order is Spatangoida with 31 species reported in mexican waters.

The sea-urchins (class Echinoidea) of South Africa have received little taxonomic attention since the last comprehensive regional monographic guide, which was published in 1976 and is thus now severely outdated. That account was also poorly illustrated, making it difficult to use. Recent work by the authors has also added some 19 additional species to the known fauna, which now stands at 70 species. The aims of this study are thus to revise and update the South African echinoid fauna list, and to present a new, easy to use and fully-illustrated guide to all known regional species. The analysis is based mainly on examination of samples from the Iziko South African Museum collections, although additional records from other museum collections, the published literature, photographic images submitted to the EchinoMap Virtual Museum Database and any other reliable records are also included. A short account of each species is given, including relevant synonymy and literature, and brief notes on identification, size, and global distribution. Photographs that best represent the diagnostic features of each species and a map showing its known records within the region accompany each species account. A binary key to species is also provided.