A new species of Hemiphyllodactylus Bleeker (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Yunnan, China and its phylogenetic relationship to other congeners

A new species of the gekkonid genus Hemiphyllodactylus is described from forested karst hills near Zhutangxiang town, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Yunnan, China. Hemiphyllodactylus zhutangxiangensis sp. nov. is distinguished from all other congeners in morphology and an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of greater than 14% based on 1039 base pairs of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene (ND2). The new species is defined by the following characters: a maximum SVL of 44.42 mm; 7–9 chin scales; enlarged postmentals; five circumnasal scales; 2–4 internasal scales; 8–11 supralabial scales; 8–11 infralabial scales; subdigital lamellae on fingers II–V (3–5)-(4–6)-(4 or 5)-(4 or 5); subdigital lamellae on toes II–V (4 or 5)-(4 or 5)-(4–6)-(4 or 5); dorsal scales 11–15; ventral scales 5–7; 20–23 continuous femoroprecloacal pores; having pale-grey base color on the body with various darker transverse dorsal blotches; a dark postorbital stripe extending to at least to the base of the neck; no dark dorsolateral or ventrolateral stripe on trunk; and postsacral marking bearing a dark fork-like pattern with anteriorly projecting arms. The new species brings the species total of Hemiphyllodactylus in China to 11.

An investigation into the taxonomy of Abavorana luctuosa (Peters, 1871) (Anura, Ranidae) and the resurrection of Rana decorata Mocquard, 1890 from Borneo

The taxonomic status of the ranid frog Abavorana luctuosa (Peters, 1871) was investigated using a combination of molecular and morphological data. The analyses revealed that A. luctuosasensu lato is composed of two species in Borneo. One of these species agrees with the description of Rana decorata Mocquard, 1890 which is resurrected in the combination Abavorana decoratacomb. nov. (Mocquard, 1890). Abavorana decorata is recovered as the sister lineage to the remainder of Abavorana and differs by a 16.0–17.0 % uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence from its congeners A. nazgul and A. luctuosa, respectively. It is distinguishable morphologically from A. luctuosa and A. nazgul by its ventral pattern (bold, black and white reticulations on its venter along with bold banding on the underside of hind limbs vs. generally immaculate and spotted in the latter two species), and a prominent white streak beneath the eye and/or tympanum extending to the corner of the jaw. Abavorana decorata further differs from A. luctuosa by having a significantly wider head and snout, larger interorbital and tympanum diameters, longer femur in both sexes, and various combinations of other mensural characters. Both species are sympatric in Borneo and this discovery adds to a growing number of widespread Sundaic species shown to be species complexes with distinct forms in Borneo.

A new species of Bent-toed Gecko (Squamata, Gekkonidae, Cyrtodactylus) from the Shan Plateau in eastern Myanmar (Burma)

An integrative taxonomic analysis of the Cyrtodactylus linnwayensis group of the Shan Plateau recovered two new populations from isolated karst habitats near Pinlaung Town, Shan State as a new species, C. pinlaungensis sp. nov. Cyrtodactylus pinlaungensis sp. nov. is most closely related to a clade comprising C. linnwayensis and C. ywanganensis from the western edge of the Shan Plateau approximately 90 km to the northwest. Cyrtodactylus pinlaungensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from all members of the C. linnwayensis group by a number of statistically different morphological characters, discrete color pattern differences, and its heavy tuberculation. It also bears an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of 5.0–7.6% from all other species combined based on the mitochondrial gene ND2 and its flanking tRNAs. The discovery of this new species on the Shan Plateau continues to underscore the fact that this region is rapidly emerging as a herpetological diversity hot-spot for Myanmar.

Six new Cyrtodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northeast India

We use mitochondrial sequence data to identify divergent lineages within the gekkonid genus Cyrtodactylus in northeast India and use morphological data to describe six new species from within the Indo-Burma clade of Cyrtodactylus. The new species share an irregular colour pattern but differ from described species from the region in morphology and mitochondrial sequence data (>11 % uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence). Three new species are from along the Brahmaputra River and three are from mountains south of the Brahmaputra, including the largest Cyrtodactylus from India and the fifth gecko to be described from a major Indian city, Guwahati.

A new species of fan-throated lizard of the genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829 from coastal Kerala, southern India

We here describe Sitana attenboroughii sp. nov., a new species of fan-throated lizard of the genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829 from coastal Kerala in southern India. The new species morphologically is closer to Sitana visiri Deepak, 2016 (in Deepak et al. 2016a), however, differs in having higher numbers of ventral scales and a comparatively short but richly colored dewlap. Genetically the new species shows affinity to Sitana marudhamneydhal Deepak, Khandekar, Varma & Chaitanya, 2016 from which it differs in an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of 2.2% for a fragment of mitochondrial Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase (NADH) subunit 2 gene.

Barcode-based species delimitation in the marine realm: a test using Hexanauplia (Multicrustacea: Thecostraca and Copepoda)

DNA barcoding has been used successfully for identifying specimens belonging to marine planktonic groups. However, the ability to delineate species within taxonomically diverse and widely distributed marine groups, such as the Copepoda and Thecostraca, remains largely untested. We investigate whether a cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI-5P) global pairwise sequence divergence threshold exists between intraspecific and interspecific divergences in the copepods plus the thecostracans (barnacles and allies). Using publicly accessible sequence data, we applied a graphical method to determine an optimal threshold value. With these thresholds, and using a newly generated planktonic marine data set, we quantify the degree of concordance using a bidirectional analysis and discuss different analytical methods for sequence-based species delimitation (e.g., BIN, ABGD, jMOTU, UPARSE, Mothur, PTP, and GMYC). Our results support a COI-5P threshold between 2.1% and 2.6% p-distance across methods for these crustacean taxa, yielding molecular groupings largely concordant with traditional, morphologically defined species. The adoption of internal methods for clustering verification enables rapid biodiversity studies and the exploration of unknown faunas using DNA barcoding. The approaches taken here for concordance assessment also provide a more quantitative comparison of clustering results (as contrasted with “success/failure” of barcoding), and we recommend their further consideration for barcoding studies.

Three new karst-dwellingCnemaspisStrauch, 1887 (Squamata; Gekkoniade) from Peninsular Thailand and the phylogenetic placement ofC. punctatonuchalisandC. vandeventeri

Three new species of Rock GeckosCnemaspis lineogularissp. nov.,C. phangngaensissp. nov., andC. thachanaensissp. nov. of thechanthaburiensisandsiamensisgroups are described from the Thai portion of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. These new species are distinguished from all other species in their two respective groups based on a unique combination of morphological characteristics, which is further supported by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene (ND2).Cnemaspis lineogularissp. nov. is differentiated from all other species in thechanthaburiensisgroup by having a smaller maximum SVL 38 mm, 13 paravertebral tubercles, enlarged femoral scales, no caudal bands, and a 19.5–23.0% pairwise sequence divergence (ND2).Cnemaspis phangngaensissp. nov. is differentiated from all other species in the siamensis group by having the unique combination of 10 infralabial scales, four continuous pore-bearing precloacal scales, paravertebral tubercles linearly arranged, lacking tubercles on the lower flanks, having ventrolateral caudal tubercles anteriorly present, caudal tubercles restricted to a single paraveterbral row on each side, a single median row of keeled subcaudals, and a 8.8–25.2% pairwise sequence divergence (ND2).Cnemaspis thachanaensissp. nov. is distinguished from all other species in the siamensis group by having 10 or 11 supralabial scales 9–11 infralabial scales, paravertebral tubercles linearly arranged, ventrolateral caudal tubercles anteriorly, caudal tubercles restricted to a single paravertebral row on each side, a single median row of keeled subcaudal scales, lacking a single enlarged subcaudal scale row, lacking postcloaclal tubercles in males, the presence of an enlarged submetatarsal scale at the base if the 1st toe, and a 13.4–28.8% pairwise sequence divergence (ND2). The new phylogenetic analyses placeC. punctatonuchalisandC. vandeventeriin the siamensis group withC. punctatonuchalisas the sister species toC. huaseesomandC. vandeventerias the sister species toC. siamensis, corroborating previous hypotheses based on morphology. The discovery of three new karst-dwelling endemics brings the total number of nominal ThaiCnemaspisspecies to 15 and underscores the need for continued field research in poorly known areas of the Thai-Malay Peninsula, especially those that are threatened and often overlooked as biodiversity hot spots.

A new cryptic species of Acanthosaura Gray, 1831 (Squamata: Agamidae) from Thailand and Cambodia

A new species of Acanthosaura (Gray 1831), A. cardamomensis sp. nov. from eastern Thailand and western Cambodia is described based on having a combination of unique morphological characteristics. It most closely resembles A. crucigera but differs in having significantly longer postorbital spines, occipital spines, nuchal spines, and dorsal spines; more scales between the fifth canthals; longer maximum dorsal scale length; longer maximum nuchal scale length; a significantly smaller diastema between the nuchal and dorsal crest spines; and significantly more supralabials. Mitochondrial DNA was used to calculate percent sequence divergence between samples of A. crucigera from southern Myanmar and western Thailand and samples of A. cardamomensis sp. nov. from eastern Thailand and western Cambodia. The uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence between populations of A. cardamomensis ranged from 1.2– 3.1% and the range between populations of A. crucigera was 3.8%. The percent sequence divergence between A. cardamomensis sp. nov. and A. crucigera ranged between 10.0–14.6%.

Molecular phylogeny of the salamandrid genus Neurergus: evidence for an intrageneric switch of reproductive biology

A molecular phylogeny of the salamandrid genus Neurergus was reconstructed based on two sections of the 12S and 16S mitochondrial ribosomal genes (810 bp), 19 allozyme and three plasma protein loci. When representative species of all closely related salamandrid groups were included, mitochondrial data provided evidence for monophyly of Neurergus within the Salamandridae. Mitochondrial and allozyme data showed homogenous intrageneric tree topologies, but different estimates of times of separation. We calibrated the evolutionary rate to 0.46% pairwise sequence divergence per million years. Accordingly Neurergus diverged 18 million years ago (mya) from a lineage that comprised Euproctus asper and large bodied newts of the genus Triturus. A split around 11 mya produced two major clades within Neurergus. Further separation within the southern 'N. crocatus-clade' (comprising N. crocatus, N. microspilotus and N. kaiseri) occurred ca. 5 mya. The northern 'N. strauchii-clade' separated into N. s. strauchii and N. s. barani ca. 3 mya. Our molecular phylogeny indicates that stream-reproduction is the ancestral state for Neurergus, adaptations to pond-reproduction in N. kaiseri are the result of an evolutionary switch of reproductive biology within the 'N. crocatus-clade'.