Population genomics and sexual signals support reproductive character displacement in Uperoleia (Anura: Myobatrachidae) in a contact zone.

When closely related species come into contact via range expansion, both may experience reduced fitness as a result of the interaction. Selection is expected to favour traits that minimize costly interspecies reproductive interactions (such as mismating) via a phenomenon called reproductive character displacement (RCD). Research on RCD frequently assumes secondary contact between species, but the geographical history of species interactions is often unknown. Population genomic data permit tests of geographical hypotheses about species origins and secondary contact through range expansion. We used population genomic data from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), mitochondrial sequence data, advertisement call data and morphological data to investigate a species complex of toadlets (Uperoleia borealis, U. crassa, U. inundata) from northern Australia. Although the three species of frogs were morphologically indistinguishable in our analysis, we determined that U. crassa and U. inundata form a single species (synonymized here) based on an absence of genomic divergence. SNP data identified the phylogeographical origin of U. crassa as the Top End, with subsequent westward invasion into the range of U. borealis in the Kimberley. We identified six F1 hybrids, all of which had the U. borealis mitochondrial haplotype, suggesting unidirectional hybridization. Consistent with the RCD hypothesis, U. borealis and U. crassa sexual signals differ more in sympatry than in allopatry. Hybrid males have intermediate calls, which probably reduces attractiveness to females. Integrating population genomic data, mitochondrial sequencing, morphology and behavioural approaches provides an unusually detailed collection of evidence for reproductive character displacement following range expansion and secondary contact.

Between a rock and a dry place: phylogenomics, biogeography, and systematics of ridge-tailed monitors (Squamata: Varanidae: Varanus acanthurus complex).

Genomic data are a powerful tool for the elucidation of evolutionary patterns at the population level and above. The combined analysis of genomic and morphological data can result in species delimitation hypotheses that reflect evolutionary history better than traditional taxonomy or any individual source of evidence. Here, we used thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms, mitochondrial sequences, and comprehensive morphological data to characterize the evolutionary history of the ridge-tailed monitors in the Varanus acanthurus complex (V. acanthurus, V. baritji, and V. storri), a group of saxicolous lizards with a wide distribution in Australia, the driest vegetated continent. We found substantial genetic structure in the group and identify nine geographically clustered populations. Based on admixture patterns and species delimitation analyses we propose a taxonomic scheme that differs from current taxonomy. We consider V. acanthurus as monotypic, synonymize V. baritji with V. a. insulanicus (as a redefined V. insulanicus), elevate the subspecies of V. storri to full species (V. storri and V. ocreatus), and describe a new species from a previously identified center of endemism. The relationships among the species remain unresolved, likely as a result of fast speciation. Our study highlights the capability of large datasets to illuminate admixture patterns, biogeographic history, and species limits, even when phylogeny is not completely resolved. Furthermore, our results highlight the impact that the Cenozoic aridification of Australia had on saxicolous taxa and the role of mesic rocky escarpments as refugia. These habitats apparently allowed the persistence of lineages that became sources of colonization for arid environments.

A return-on-investment approach for prioritization of rigorous taxonomic research needed to inform responses to the biodiversity crisis.

Global biodiversity loss is a profound consequence of human activity. Disturbingly, biodiversity loss is greater than realized because of the unknown number of undocumented species. Conservation fundamentally relies on taxonomic recognition of species, but only a fraction of biodiversity is described. Here, we provide a new quantitative approach for prioritizing rigorous taxonomic research for conservation. We implement this approach in a highly diverse vertebrate group-Australian lizards and snakes. Of 870 species assessed, we identified 282 (32.4%) with taxonomic uncertainty, of which 17.6% likely comprise undescribed species of conservation concern. We identify 24 species in need of immediate taxonomic attention to facilitate conservation. Using a broadly applicable return-on-investment framework, we demonstrate the importance of prioritizing the fundamental work of identifying species before they are lost.

An evaluation of the nomina for death adders (Acanthophis Daudin, 1803) proposed by Wells amp; Wellington (1985), and confirmation of A. cryptamydros Maddock et al., 2015 as the valid name for the Kimberley death adder.

We assess the availability of four names proposed by Wells Wellington (1985) for Australian death adders (Acanthophis). In agreement with previous literature, A. hawkei is an available name, whereas A. armstrongi, A. lancasteri, and A. schistos are not described in conformity with the requirements of Articles 13.1.1 or 13.1.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and are therefore considered nomina nuda. Consequently, A. cryptamydros Maddock et al., 2015, is confirmed as the valid name for the Kimberley death adder of Western Australia. We comment on the need for greater clarity in the Code, and emphasise that the responsibility for establishing the availability of new nomina rests with their authors, not subsequent researchers.

Revision of the Litoria watjulumensis (Anura: Pelodryadidae) group from the Australian monsoonal tropics, including the resurrection of L. spaldingi.

We show that the Wotjulum frog, Litoria watjulumensis (Copland, 1957), comprises two deeply divergent mitochondrial DNA lineages that are also reciprocally monophyletic for a nuclear gene locus and have discrete distributions. The taxa are differentiated in multivariate analysis of shape but show no appreciable differences in colour and pattern. The two taxa differ substantially in the degree of female biased sexual size dimorphism, with the western taxon showing considerably more pronounced dimorphism. We subsequently resurrect Litoria (Hyla) spaldingi (Hosmer, 1964) for populations from east of the Daly River system in the Northern Territory through to western Queensland and restrict L. watjulumensis to populations from the Kimberley region of north-western Australia and the Victoria River system of the western Northern Territory. The complex advertisement call of L. spaldingi is described for the first time.

Polyploidy breaks speciation barriers in Australian burrowing frogs Neobatrachus.

Polyploidy has played an important role in evolution across the tree of life but it is still unclear how polyploid lineages may persist after their initial formation. While both common and well-studied in plants, polyploidy is rare in animals and generally less understood. The Australian burrowing frog genus Neobatrachus is comprised of six diploid and three polyploid species and offers a powerful animal polyploid model system. We generated exome-capture sequence data from 87 individuals representing all nine species of Neobatrachus to investigate species-level relationships, the origin and inheritance mode of polyploid species, and the population genomic effects of polyploidy on genus-wide demography. We describe rapid speciation of diploid Neobatrachus species and show that the three independently originated polyploid species have tetrasomic or mixed inheritance. We document higher genetic diversity in tetraploids, resulting from widespread gene flow between the tetraploids, asymmetric inter-ploidy gene flow directed from sympatric diploids to tetraploids, and isolation of diploid species from each other. We also constructed models of ecologically suitable areas for each species to investigate the impact of climate on differing ploidy levels. These models suggest substantial change in suitable areas compared to past climate, which correspond to population genomic estimates of demographic histories. We propose that Neobatrachus diploids may be suffering the early genomic impacts of climate-induced habitat loss, while tetraploids appear to be avoiding this fate, possibly due to widespread gene flow. Finally, we demonstrate that Neobatrachus is an attractive model to study the effects of ploidy on the evolution of adaptation in animals.

Crypsis and convergence: integrative taxonomic revision of the Gehyra australis group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northern Australia.

For over two decades, assessments of geographic variation in mtDNA and small numbers of nuclear loci have revealed morphologically similar, but genetically divergent, intraspecific lineages in lizards from around the world. Subsequent morphological analyses often find subtle corresponding diagnostic characters to support the distinctiveness of lineages, but occasionally do not. In recent years it has become increasingly possible to survey geographic variation by sequencing thousands of loci, enabling more rigorous assessment of species boundaries across morphologically similar lineages. Here we take this approach, adding new, geographically extensive SNP data to existing mtDNA and exon capture datasets for the Gehyra australis and G. koira species complexes of gecko from northern Australia. The combination of exon-based phylogenetics with dense spatial sampling of mitochondrial DNA sequencing, SNP-based tests for introgression at lineage boundaries and newly-collected morphological evidence supports the recognition of nine species, six of which are newly described here. Detection of discrete genetic clusters using new SNP data was especially convincing where candidate taxa were continuously sampled across their distributions up to and across geographic boundaries with analyses revealing no admixture. Some species defined herein appear to be truly cryptic, showing little, if any, diagnostic morphological variation. As these SNP-based approaches are progressively applied, and with all due conservatism, we can expect to see a substantial improvement in our ability to delineate and name cryptic species, especially in taxa for which previous approaches have struggled to resolve taxonomic boundaries.

A global catalog of primary reptile type specimens.

We present information on primary type specimens for 13,282 species and subspecies of reptiles compiled in the Reptile Database, that is, holotypes, neotypes, lectotypes, and syntypes. These represent 99.4% of all 13,361 currently recognized taxa (11,050 species and 2311 subspecies). Type specimens of 653 taxa (4.9%) are either lost or not located, were never designated, or we did not find any information about them. 51 species are based on iconotypes. To map all types to physical collections we have consolidated all synonymous and ambiguous collection acronyms into an unambiguous list of 364 collections holding these primary types. The 10 largest collections possess more than 50% of all (primary) reptile types, the 36 largest collections possess more than 10,000 types and the largest 73 collections possess over 90% of all types. Of the 364 collections, 107 hold type specimens of only 1 species or subspecies. Dozens of types are still in private collections. In order to increase their utility, we recommend that the description of type specimens be supplemented with data from high-resolution images and CT-scans, and clear links to tissue samples and DNA sequence data (when available). We request members of the herpetological community provide us with any missing type information to complete the list.

Conspicuously concealed: revision of the arid clade of the Gehyra variegata (Gekkonidae) group in Western Australia using an integrative molecular and morphological approach, with the description of five cryptic species.

The methods used to detect and describe morphologically cryptic species have advanced in recent years, owing to the integrative nature of molecular and morphological techniques required to elucidate them. Here we integrate recent phylogenomic work that sequenced many genes but few individuals, with new data from mtDNA and morphology from hundreds of gecko specimens of the Gehyra variegata group from the Australian arid zone. To better understand morphological and geographical boundaries among cryptic forms, we generated new sequences from 656 Gehyra individuals, largely assigned to G. variegata group members over a wide area in Western Australia, with especially dense sampling in the Pilbara region, and combined them with 566 Gehyra sequences from GenBank, resulting in a dataset of 1,222 specimens. Results indicated the existence of several cryptic species, from new species with diagnostic morphological characters, to cases when there were no useful characters to discriminate among genetically distinctive species. In addition, the cryptic species often showed counter-intuitive distributions, including broad sympatry among some forms and short range endemism in other cases. Two new species were on long branches in the phylogram and restricted to the northern Pilbara region: most records of the moderately sized G. incognita sp. nov. are near the coast with isolated inland records, whereas the small-bodied saxicoline G. unguiculata sp. nov. is only known from a small area in the extreme north of the Pilbara. Three new species were on shorter branches in the phylogram and allied to G. montium. The moderately sized G. crypta sp. nov. occurs in the western and southern Pilbara and extends south through the Murchison region; this species was distinctive genetically, but with wide overlap of characters with its sister species, G. montium. Accordingly, we provide a table of diagnostic nucleotides for this species as well as for all other species treated here. Two small-bodied species occur in isolated coastal regions: G. capensis sp. nov. is restricted to the North West Cape and G. ocellata sp. nov. occurs on Barrow Island and other neighbouring islands. The latter species showed evidence of introgression with the mtDNA of G. crypta sp. nov., possibly due to recent connectivity with the mainland owing to fluctuating sea levels. However, G. ocellata sp. nov. was more closely related to G. capensis sp. nov. in the phylogenomic data and in morphology. Our study illustrates the benefits of combining phylogenomic data with extensive screens of mtDNA to identify large numbers of individuals to the correct cryptic species. This approach was able to provide sufficient samples with which to assess morphological variation. Furthermore, determination of geographic distributions of the new cryptic species should greatly assist with identification in the field, demonstrating the utility of sampling large numbers of specimens across wide areas.

Species delimitation in the Gehyra nana (Squamata: Gekkonidae) complex: cryptic and divergent morphological evolution in the Australian Monsoonal Tropics, with the description of four new species.

Recent advances in molecular genetic techniques and increased fine scale sampling in the Australian Monsoonal Tropics (AMT) have provided new impetus to reassess species boundaries in the Gehyra nana species complex, a clade of small-bodied, saxicolous geckos which are widely distributed across northern Australia. A recent phylogenomic analysis revealed eight deeply divergent lineages that occur as a series of overlapping distributions across the AMT and which, as a whole, are paraphyletic with four previously described species. Several of these lineages currently included in G. nana are phenotypically distinct, while others are highly conservative morphologically. Here we use an integrated approach to explore species delimitation in this complex. We redefine G. nana as a widespread taxon with complex genetic structure across the Kimberley of Western Australia and Top End of the Northern Territory, including a lineage with mtDNA introgressed from the larger-bodied G. multiporosa. We describe four new species with more restricted distributions within the G. nana complex. The new species are phylogenetically divergent and morphologically diagnosable, and include the relatively cryptic G. paranana sp. nov. from the western Northern Territory, the large-bodied G. pseudopunctata sp. nov. from the southern Kimberley ranges, G. granulum sp. nov., a small-bodied form with granules on the proximal lamellae from the north-west and southern Kimberley ranges and the small-bodied G. pluraporosa sp. nov. restricted to the northern Kimberley. Our revision largely stabilises the taxonomy of the G. nana complex, although further analyses of species limits among the remaining mostly parapatric lineages of G. nana sensu stricto are warranted.

Cryptic lineage diversity, body size divergence, and sympatry in a species complex of Australian lizards (Gehyra).

Understanding the joint evolutionary and ecological underpinnings of sympatry among close relatives remains a key challenge in biology. This problem can be addressed through joint phylogenomic and phenotypic analysis of complexes of closely related lineages within, and across, species and hence representing the speciation continuum. For a complex of tropical geckos from northern Australia-Gehyra nana and close relatives-we combine mtDNA phylogeography, exon-capture sequencing, and morphological data to resolve independently evolving lineages and infer their divergence history and patterns of morphological evolution. Gehyra nana is found to include nine divergent lineages and is paraphyletic with four other species from the Kimberley region of north-west Australia. Across these 13 taxa, 12 of which are restricted to rocky habitats, several lineages overlap geographically, including on the diverse Kimberley islands. Morphological evolution is dominated by body size shifts, and both body size and shape have evolved gradually across the group. However, larger body size shifts are observed among overlapping taxa than among closely related parapatric lineages of G. nana, and sympatric lineages are more divergent than expected at random. Whether elevated body size differences among sympatric lineages are due to ecological sorting or character displacement remains to be determined.

Many things come in small packages: Revision of the clawless geckos (Crenadactylus: Diplodactylidae) of Australia.

We provide a taxonomic revision of the genus Crenadactylus, a group of very small clawless geckos from western and central Australia, with currently only one recognized species and four subspecies. Morphological comparisons were made on genotyped specimens from two recent genetic studies, then with an expanded sample to encompass all specimens to determine diagnostic characters in addition to morphological and geographic boundaries. Based on our findings, we           elevate the subspecies Crenadactylus ocellatus ocellatus from south-western Australia and C. o. horni from the Central Uplands to full species. Consultation of the types of Diplodactylus (= Crenadactylus) bilineatus indicate they are                 C. ocellatus based on a dorsal pattern with intermixing of dark and pale scales not shared with any other taxa; we therefore maintain synonymy of 'D.' bilineatus with 'D.' ocellatus. We describe three new Western Australian species formerly      allocated to C. o. horni: C. occidentalis sp. nov. from the western coast, C. tuberculatus sp. nov. from the Cape Range and C. pilbarensis sp. nov. from the Pilbara region. To stabilize the Kimberley taxa, we also raise C. ocellatus rostralis and C. ocellatus naso, both monophyletic taxa from the monsoonal tropics, to full species, while acknowledging further work is required on the C. naso species complex. All new species treated here possess distinctive morphological characters to diagnose them, including enlarged dorsal tubercles in C. tuberculatus sp. nov., a single enlarged supranasal in C. horni and a single enlarged postmental in C. pilbarensis sp. nov. Pattern was relatively conserved among taxa, with highly  contrasting dark and pale longitudinal lines, with the exception of the type species C. ocellatus that possesses intermixed dark and pale scales and ocelli. Crenadactylus species are separated by deep genetic divergences and are usually allopatrically distributed. This indicates that despite being Australia's smallest geckos, or possibly because of it, these      diminutive lizards have a long history of localised persistence through major climatic changes over millions of years.

Revision of the water-holding frogs, Cyclorana platycephala (Anura: Hylidae), from arid Australia, including a description of a new species.

The water-holding frog, Cyclorana platycephala, occurs in the Australian arid and semi-arid zones but not in the central Australian deserts. Recent inspection of morphological variation in adults and larvae suggests that the taxon comprises three regional populations: eastern, northern and western that may each represent separate species. To assess the systematic status of these populations, we documented phylogenetic relationships using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers, divergence in adult and larval morphology and male advertisement call. Our molecular genetic data demonstrates that the western population of C. platycephala is not the sister taxon of eastern and northern representatives of this nominate species, as the latter two are more closely related to another morphologically distinct species, C. verrucosa. Discriminant Function Analysis of 14 morphological traits in adults and 15 in larvae showed a high degree of morphological differentiation of western versus eastern/northern C. platycephala. Calls of eastern and western populations differed in duration, pulse rate, frequency and especially in amplitude modulation pattern across the call duration. We describe the western population as a new species, whose range is contained entirely within Western Australia. In addition, we redescribe Cyclorana platycephala, quantify morphological and genetic differences between the eastern and northern populations, and conclude that these data support recognition of a single species, Cyclorana platycephala, for populations found in New South Wales, the Barkly Tablelands and south-eastern Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia.

Systematic revision of the marbled velvet geckos (Oedura marmorata species complex, Diplodactylidae) from the Australian arid and semi-arid zones.

Lizards restricted to rocky habitats often comprise numerous deeply divergent lineages, reflecting the disjunct nature of their preferred habitat and the capacity of rocky habitats to function as evolutionary refugia. Here we review the systematics and diversity of the predominantly saxicoline Australian marbled velvet geckos (genus Oedura) in the Australian arid and semi-arid zones using newly-gathered morphological data and previously published genetic data. Earlier work showed that four largely allopatric and genetically divergent lineages are present: Western (Pilbara and Gascoyne regions), Gulf (west and south of the Gulf of Carpentaria), Central (central ranges) and Eastern (Cooper and Darling Basins). None of these four populations are conspecific with true O. marmorata, a seperate species complex that is restricted to the Top End region of the Northern Territory. Top End forms share a short, bulbous tail whereas the other four lineages treated here possess a long, tapering tail. Morphological differences among the arid and semi-arid lineages include smaller body size, tapering lamellae and a shorter tail for the Gulf population, and a partially divided rostral scale in the Western population compared to the Central and Eastern populations. Accordingly, we resurrect O. cincta de Vis from synonymy for the Central and Eastern lineages, and regard this species as being comprised of two evolutionary significant units. We also describe the Gulf and Western lineages as new species: Oedura bella sp. nov. and O. fimbria sp. nov., respectively. We note that a predominantly arboreal lineage (the Eastern lineage of O. cincta) is more widely distributed than the other lineages and is phylogenetically nested within a saxicoline clade, but tends to have a deeper head and shorter limbs, consistent with morphological variation observed in other lizard radiations including both saxicoline and arboreal taxa.

Systematics of small Gehyra (Squamata: Gekkonidae) of the southern Kimberley, Western Australia: redescription of G. kimberleyi Börner & Schüttler, 1983 and description of a new restricted range species.

Ongoing fieldwork and molecular research continues to reveal that the monsoonal tropics of northern Australia contain more vertebrate species than currently recognised. Here we focus on two morphologically distinctive, yet unrecognised forms in the genus Gehyra from the southern Kimberley region and surrounding deserts. We base our descriptions on a combination of unpublished genetic data and a morphological examination of voucher specimens. We recognise and redescribe G. kimberleyi, a species with a broad distribution extending over most of the south-west Kimberley, across the Great Sandy Desert and into the far northern Pilbara. This species has been previously assigned to G. pilbara owing to its frequent occurrence on termite mounds and short snout, but can be distinguished from G. pilbara and other regionally sympatric Gehyra by its moderate body size, moderate number of pre-cloacal pores in males (12-17) and aspects of dorsal colouration. We also describe G. girloorloo sp. nov., a small rock-dwelling species with a short snout, low number of pre-cloacal pores in males (8-11) and pinkish-grey dorsal colouration with alternating series of indistinct pale spots and irregular transversely-aligned dark blotches. The new species appears to be restricted to a relatively small region of exposed limestone karst in the south-west Kimberley and is entirely circumscribed by morphologically similar congeners.

A new species of death adder (Acanthophis: Serpentes: Elapidae) from north-western Australia.

Australian death adders (genus Acanthophis) are highly venomous snakes with conservative morphology and sit-and-wait predatory habits, with only moderate taxonomic diversity that nevertheless remains incompletely understood. Analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences and morphological characteristics of death adders in northern Australia reveal the existence of a new species from the Kimberley region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, which we describe as Acanthophis cryptamydros sp. nov. Although populations from the Kimberley were previously considered conspecific with Northern Territory death adders of the A. rugosus complex, our mtDNA analysis indicates that its closest relatives are desert death adders, A. pyrrhus. We found that A. cryptamydros sp. nov. is distinct in both mtDNA and nDNA analysis, and possesses multiple morphological characteristics that allow it to be distinguished from all other Acanthophis species. This study further supports the Kimberley region as an area with high endemic biodiversity.

Revision of the Western Australian pebble-mimic dragon species-group (Tympanocryptis cephalus: Reptilia: Agamidae).

Recent work on species complexes of the pebble-mimic dragons of the Australian genus Tympanocryptis has greatly clarified evolutionary relationships among taxa and also indicated that species diversity has been severely underestimated. Here we provide a morphological and molecular appraisal of variation in the T. cephalus species-group and find evidence for recognizing five species-level lineages from Western Australia. Four species-level lineages are strongly supported with a combined mitochondrial and nuclear DNA Bayesian analysis (a fifth population from the Gascoyne region lacked tissue samples). Morphologically, we found subtle, yet consistent, differences among the populations in scalation, color and pattern. True T. cephalus Günther is restricted to the coastal Pilbara region and characterized by five dark blotches on the dorsum, keeled ventrals, and other characters. Two other lineages within the Pilbara, from the Hamersley range and Fortescue/northern Pilbara region, differed from T. cephalus senso stricto by possessing a more elongate body and a plain dorsum. Furthermore, the Hamersley lineage differed from the Fortescue lineage by possessing slightly more reddish coloration and feeble keeling on the snout. Although there are few specimens and no tissue samples available for the Gascoyne population, these individuals are larger, have rugose scales on the snout, and possess scattered enlarged tubercles with three large blotches on the dorsum. The name T. cephalus gigas Mitchell is available for this population. The most widespread lineage, and the one best represented in collections and in field guides, occurs throughout central Western Australia. These Goldfield populations are characterized by a protruding snout, narrow rostral, and uniform reddish-brown coloration, often with a dark wash. Based on the genetic and morphological differences, we redescribe T. cephalus, resurrect and elevate T. gigas to a full species and designate a neotype for this taxon, and describe three lineages as new species (T. diabolicus sp. nov., T. fortescuensis sp. nov., T. pseudopsephos sp. nov.).

Sepsis After Cardiac Surgery Early in Infancy and Adverse 4.5-Year Neurocognitive Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine whether sepsis is associated with neurocognitive outcomes 4.5 years after congenital heart disease surgery in early infancy. METHODS AND RESULTS: A secondary analysis from a prospective inception cohort included all children having congenital heart disease surgery done at ≤6 weeks of age with cardiopulmonary bypass at the Western Canadian referral center from 1996 to 2009. Follow-up at the referral center determined the primary outcomes at 4.5 years with full-scale, performance, and verbal intelligence quotients on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Perioperative variables were collected prospectively, and confirmation of blood culture-positive sepsis was done retrospectively. Multiple linear regression models for neurocognitive outcomes and multiple Cox proportional hazards regression for mortality were determined. Sepsis occurred in 97 of 502 patients (19%) overall and in 76 of 396 survivors (19%) with 4.5-year follow-up. By 4.5 years, there were 91 (18%) deaths, and 396 of 411 survivors (96%) had follow-up completed. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was associated with worse scores on all neurocognitive outcomes on multivariable regression; the association between extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and full-scale intelligence quotient had a regression coefficient of -13.6 (95% CI -21.3 to -5.9; P=0.001). Sepsis perioperatively was associated with performance and verbal intelligence quotients, with a trend for full-scale intelligence quotient (P=0.058) on multivariable regression. The regression coefficient for sepsis was strongest for performance intelligence quotient (-5.31; 95% CI -9.84 to -0.78; P=0.022). Sepsis was not but extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was associated with mortality by 4.5 years. CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative sepsis and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were associated with adverse neurocognitive outcomes on multivariable regression. Quality improvement to prevent sepsis has the potential to improve long-term neurocognitive outcomes in infants after surgery for congenital heart disease.

A new species of Velvet Gecko (Oedura: Diplodactylidae) from the limestone ranges of the southern Kimberley, Western Australia.

We describe a new species of large Oedura from the Oscar Range on the southern edge of the Kimberley Craton in north-western Australia. Oedura murrumanu sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners by the combination of large size (snout-vent length to 103 mm), moderately long and slightly swollen tail, tiny scales on the dorsum, fringe of laterally expanded lamellae on each digit, and 6-7 paired distal subdigital lamellae on the fourth toe. The new species is the first endemic vertebrate known from the limestone ranges of the southern Kimberley; however, this area remains poorly surveyed and further research (particularly wet season surveys and genetic analyses) is required to better characterise regional biodiversity values.

A new frog species (Myobatrachidae: Uperoleia) from the Northern Deserts region of Australia, with a redescription of U. trachyderma.

The frog genus Uperoleia (Myobatrachidae) is species rich, with the greatest diversity in the northern monsoonal region of Australia. Due in part to their small body size, conservative morphology and distribution in diverse habitats, the genus is likely to harbor cryptic species. A recent study (Catullo et al. 2013) assessed region-wide genetic, acoustic and phenotypic variation within four species in northern Australia. Catullo et al. (2013) presented multiple lines of evidence that the widespread U. trachyderma comprises distinct allopatric western and eastern lineages within the Northern Deserts bioregion of Australia. Here we formally describe the western lineage as U. stridera sp. nov. and redescribe the eastern (type) clade as U. trachyderma. The new species can be distinguished from U. trachyderma by fewer pulses per call, a faster pulse rate, and the lack of scattered orange to red flecks on the dorsum. The description of U. stridera sp. nov. brings the number of Uperoleia species to 28, by far the largest genus in the Myobatrachidae, and further highlights the Australian monsoonal tropics as a region of high endemism.