Despite the fact that the iconic happy-face spider belongs to this group, the endemic Hawaiian Theridion spiders have remained largely ignored since their discovery a century ago. We conducted a complete systematic revision of the group that led us to describe eight new species, raising the total number to 16, and infer their relationships based on morphological data. Our study provides the foundations for future investigations aiming at characterising and understanding the processes underlying the patterns and drivers of species diversification and co-occurrence in the archipelago.

We revised the mite-harvestman genus Troglosiro, endemic to New Caledonia, and one of the oldest lineages of this emerged part of Zealandia. For this we studied the phylogenetic relationships of Troglosironidae using standard molecular markers. We also applied a diversity of species delimitation methods, including unsupervised machine learning, to evaluate previous species designations. With a combination of genetic and morphological information we described four new species and placed them in the broader context of the phylogeny and biogeographic history of this family of Cyphophthalmi.

The Lygus-complex is among the most challenging groups within the hyperdiverse family Miridae. Many its species and genera can be identified using genitalia structures only, and do not have proper diagnoses. The Lygus-complex is poorly studied in Australia. Here we address some representatives of this group from Australia, including the first records of the genera Diomocoris and Micromimetus, and redescribe the widely distributed species Taylorilygus apicalis. We also test the monophyly of the Lygus-complex and the systematic position of the studied species using molecular data.