A review of the genus Bronchocela Kaup, 1827 (Reptilia: Agamidae) in the Nicobar Archipelago with the description of two new species.

Species of the agamid genus Bronchocela Kaup, 1827 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are reassessed based on newly collected specimens from different parts of the Nicobar Archipelago. An assessment based on morphology and distribution of the identified groups reveal two new, unnamed populations, one allied to B. cristatella and the other allied to B. danieli. These two populations are described as new species, and Bronchocela cristatella is redescribed based on Sundaic specimens. The remaining species, B. danieli and B. rubrigularis are redescribed. Distributions of all of these four species are mapped and recommendations on their conservation status are suggested.

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.