Ongoing declines for the world's amphibians in the face of emerging threats.

Systematic assessments of species extinction risk at regular intervals are necessary for informing conservation action1,2. Ongoing developments in taxonomy, threatening processes and research further underscore the need for reassessment3,4. Here we report the findings of the second Global Amphibian Assessment, evaluating 8,011 species for the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. We find that amphibians are the most threatened vertebrate class (40.7% of species are globally threatened). The updated Red List Index shows that the status of amphibians is deteriorating globally, particularly for salamanders and in the Neotropics. Disease and habitat loss drove 91% of status deteriorations between 1980 and 2004. Ongoing and projected climate change effects are now of increasing concern, driving 39% of status deteriorations since 2004, followed by habitat loss (37%). Although signs of species recoveries incentivize immediate conservation action, scaled-up investment is urgently needed to reverse the current trends.

Melanesia holds the world's most diverse and intact insular amphibian fauna.

Identifying hotspots of biological diversity is a key step in conservation prioritisation. Melanesia-centred on the vast island of New Guinea-is increasingly recognised for its exceptionally species-rich and endemic biota. Here we show that Melanesia has the world's most diverse insular amphibian fauna, with over 7% of recognised global frog species in less than 0.7% of the world's land area, and over 97% of species endemic. We further estimate that nearly 200 additional candidate species have been discovered but remain unnamed, pointing to a total fauna in excess of 700 species. Nearly 60% of the Melanesian frog fauna is in a lineage of direct-developing microhylids characterised by smaller distributions than co-occurring frog families, suggesting lineage-specific high beta diversity is a key driver of Melanesian anuran megadiversity. A comprehensive conservation status assessment further highlights geographic concentrations of recently described range-restricted threatened taxa that warrant urgent conservation actions. Nonetheless, by world standards, the Melanesian frog fauna is relatively intact, with 6% of assessed species listed as threatened and no documented extinctions; and thus it provides an unparalleled opportunity to understand and conserve a megadiverse and relatively intact insular biota.

A new species of large green treefrog (Litoria, Pelodryadidae) from Papua, Indonesia.

We describe a new species of large green treefrog from southern Papua Province, Indonesia. Litoria lubisi sp. nov. is placed in the L. infrafrenata Group based on its size, colouration and configuration of hand webbing, but differs from other members of this group in aspects of body size and proportions, extent of hand webbing, colouration and male advertisement call. Litoria lubisi sp. nov. occurs in close proximity to two other species in the L. infrafrenata Group, emphasising an until-recently overlooked pattern that multiple species of large, arboreal Litoria have overlapping distributions across much of the lowlands of southern New Guinea.