Metacrangonyx ilvanus n.sp. is described from Elba Island; this is the first record of the family Metacrangonyctidae from Italy. The new species belongs to the M. panousei - group, and more exactly to the M. gineti - subgroup, previously known only from Morocco. This fact supports the idea of a multiple colonization process of continental groundwaters from the sea. It is hypothesized that the ancestor of M. ilvanus n. sp. colonized brackish waters along the coasts of the Tethys sea and survived the oligomiocenic fragmentation of Thyrrhenis. A persistence of the species on a fragment of Thyrrhenis in the Tuscan archipelago or a more recent colonization of the older part of Elba Island from the Sardo-Corsican plate during the Messinian salinity crisis is suggested. More distributional data are needed to delineate the evolutionary scenario of the genus in the Mediterranean area.

A well-characterized new species of Cyathura (Stygocyathura) is described from the underflow of a wadi in Oman where a large population is present. Sixteen species have been attributed to this entirely stygobiont subgenus; they are either from the Caribbean - Gulf of Mexico region, or from the western Pacific, whereas a single species has been recorded from the realm of the Indian Ocean: C. (S.) milloti Chappuis, Delamare & Paulian from Réunion Island. The new species could be remotely related to C. (S.) milloti.