Two new species of Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the rocky outcrops of the Deccan plateau, peninsular India.

The gekkonid diversity of the under-explored dry zones in Peninsular India is not yet completely inventoried, as evidenced by frequent new species descriptions. Here, we describe two new species of Hemidactylus from the dry rocky zones of Deccan Plateau viz. Hemidactylus mahonyi sp. nov. from Sandur Hills and Hemidactylus srikanthani sp. nov. from Devarayana Durga Hills, Karnataka State of Peninsular India. The new species belong to the morphologically cryptic H. murrayi Clade but differ from each other and the known congeners by a set of morphological characters and possess non-overlapping distribution ranges. Furthermore, the new species are also divergent (> 6.4% uncorrected p-distance) from their nearest related congeners, and from one another with respect to the ND2 mitochondrial gene. Recently, other new species of reptiles have been described from the two aforesaid type localities, indicating that further bio-inventories in the dry zones of peninsular India will yield more such novelties.

A new species of Boiga (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Southern Western Ghats of India with a molecular phylogeny and expanded characterisation of related species.

We conducted a molecular phylogenetic study on the Boiga ceylonensis group from the Western Ghats of India, building on a recent morphology-based study. Our analysis supports previous work in elucidating the phylogenetic position of B. nuchalis and B. beddomei s. str. (of Matheran, Western Ghats) as clustering closely with B. ceylonensis, while B. flaviviridis clustered with the Sri Lankan taxon close to B. ranawanei. Additionally, our phylogenetic study revealed the presence of an undescribed taxon in the Southern Western Ghats, more closely related to B. ceylonensis than to any other sampled taxon, including sympatric congeners. This new taxon is described here as a new species Boiga whitakeri sp. nov. from the Devar MalaiAnaimalai hill complex. Based on molecular and morphometric studies, we expand the description of the recently described B. thackerayi as inhabiting almost the entire stretch of the Western Ghats. We also complement the diagnoses of B. nuchalis and B. flaviviridis, and determine the phylogenetic position of B. thackerayi with molecular data.

Taxonomic revision of the Boiga ceylonensis group (Serpentes: Colubridae): re-examination of type specimens, redefinition of nominate taxa and an updated key.

We conducted a taxonomic revision of the arboreal snakes of the Boiga ceylonensis-group, all inhabiting the Indian subcontinent. Based on 15 characters, recorded from more than 100 specimens, representing eight recognized taxa, we conducted a multivariate morphometric analysis to redefine the taxonomic boundaries. We provide redescriptions of the nominate taxa in this group based on re-examination of the name-bearing types. The types of B. ceylonensis, B. beddomei, B. barnesii, B. dightoni, B. nuchalis and B. andamanensis are redescribed, where appropriate lectotypes are selected, illustrated and their nomenclature, synonymy and distribution are discussed. Status of the nominate taxon Boiga ceylonensis dakhunensis Deraniyagala, 1955 is fixed as an objective junior synonym of Dipsas nuchalis Günther, 1875. An updated key to the species of this group is presented.