A new species of the Cyrtodactylusbrevipalmatus group (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the uplands of western Thailand.

An integrative systematic analysis recovered a new species of the Cyrtodactylusbrevipalmatus group from the uplands of Thong Pha Phum National Park, Kanchanaburi Province in western Thailand. Cyrtodactylusthongphaphumensissp. nov. is deeply embedded within the brevipalmatus group, bearing an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of 7.6-22.3% from all other species based on a 1,386 base pair segment of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene (ND2) and adjacent tRNAs. It is diagnosable from all other species in the brevipalmatus group by statistically significant mean differences in meristic and normalized morphometric characters as well as differences in categorical morphology. A multiple factor analysis recovered its unique and non-overlapping placement in morphospace as statistically significantly different from that of all other species in the brevipalmatus group. The description of this new species contributes to a growing body of literature underscoring the high degree of herpetological diversity and endemism across the sky-island archipelagos of upland montane tropical forest habitats in Thailand, which like all other upland tropical landscapes, are becoming some of the most imperiled ecosystems on the planet.

A new species in the Cyrtodactylusoldhami group (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand.

Cyrtodactylusmonilatus sp. nov. is described from Si Sawat District, Kanchanaburi Province, in western Thailand. The new species superficially resembles C.zebraicus Taylor, 1962 from southern Thailand. However, differences between the new species from C.zebraicus and other congeners were supported by an integrative taxonomic analysis of molecular and morphological data. Phylogenetic analyses based on the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) gene showed that the new species is a member of the C.oldhami group and closely related to Cyrtodactylus sp. MT468911 from Thong Pha Phum National Park, Thong Pha Phum District, Kanchanaburi Province. Uncorrected pairwise genetic divergences (p-distances) between the new species and its congeners, including C.zebraicus, ranged from 7.7-17.7%. Cyrtodactylusmonilatus sp. nov. can also be distinguished from all members of the C.oldhami group by having a unique combination of morphological characters, including a snout to vent length of 53.7-63.3 mm in adult males and 58.6-75.8 mm in adult females; 22-34 paravertebral tubercles; 34-42 ventral scales; 30-39 enlarged contiguous femoroprecloacal scales; femoral pores and precloacal pores absent in both sexes; four or five rows of postprecloacal scales; enlarged median subcaudal scales absent; weak ventrolateral folds present; 4-7 rows of paired, paravertebral, dark-brown blotches edged in yellow or yellowish white; and two rows of small, diffuse, yellow or yellowish white spots on flanks. The new species occurs in a narrow range of forest at mid to low elevations associated with karst landscapes in the Tenasserim mountain range.

Integrative taxonomy delimits and diagnoses cryptic arboreal species of the Cyrtodactylusbrevipalmatus group (Squamata, Gekkonidae) with descriptions of four new species from Thailand.

Species delimitation and species diagnosis must remain separate operations to avoid constructing taxonomies comprised of non-monophyletic species based on morphological similarity as opposed to phylogenetic propinquity. This is particularly true for highly specialized species such as the range-restricted upland taxa in the Cyrtodactylusbrevipalmatus group of Indochina where strong selection pressure for an arboreal lifestyle has contributed to morphologically similar but distantly related species. This in turn, has resulted in a history of erroneous taxonomies that have actually obscured rather than revealed the diversity within this group. A Bayesian phylogeny of the C.brevipalmatus group recovered at least 15 putative species-level lineages, at least seven of which are undescribed, and of which four are described herein. A total evidence morphological data set comprised of 16 normalized morphometric, 15 meristic, and seven categorical characters scored across 51 individuals was subjected to a multiple factor analysis (MFA) and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to diagnose the putative species. These new species descriptions contribute to focusing attention to the unrealized diversity in upland tropical ecosystems, which due to climate change, are some of the most impearled ecosystems on the planet. Thus, it is paramount that taxonomies do not conflate species identities and underrepresent true diversity.

A new genus and three new species of miniaturized microhylid frogs from Indochina (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae: Asterophryinae).

We report on the discovery of a new genus of microhylid subfamily Asterophryinae from northern and eastern Indochina, containing three new species. Vietnamophryne Gen. nov. are secretive miniaturized frogs (SVL<21 mm) with a mostly semi-fossorial lifestyle. To assess phylogenetic relationships, we studied 12S rRNA-16S rRNA mtDNA fragments with a final alignment of 2 591 bp for 53 microhylid species. External morphology characters and osteological characteristics analyzed using micro-CT scanning were used for describing the new genus. Results of phylogenetic analyses assigned the new genus into the mainly Australasian subfamily Asterophryinae as a sister taxon to the genus Siamophryne from southern Indochina. The three specimens collected from Gia Lai Province in central Vietnam, Cao Bang Province in northern Vietnam, and Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand proved to be separate species, different both in morphology and genetics (genetic divergence 3.1%≤P≤5.1%). Our work provides further evidence for the "out of Indo-Eurasia" scenario for Asterophryinae, indicating that the initial cladogenesis and differentiation of this group of frogs occurred in the Indochina Peninsula. To date, each of the three new species of Vietnamophryne Gen. nov. is known only from a single specimen; thus, their distribution, life history, and conservation status require further study.