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Recent surveys in the Kimberley region of Western Australia have provided new material to reassess species diversity in the gecko genus Gehyra. Here we focus on morphological and molecular genetic variation within the G. occidentalis and G. xenopus groups. We fi rst describe a new small-bodied species that has a wedge of granules between the lamellae on the basal part of the toe pads, similar to that seen in G. xenopus. This new species has a dorsal pattern comprising transverse rows of dark and light spots or lines on a dull reddish-brown background and genetically is not closely related to G. xenopus. The second new species is supported as closely related to G. occidentalis, but differs by being smaller in body size and having more than 40 precloacal and femoral pores in adult males, darker background colouration and pattern with thick dark lines and pale spots or bars (v. large dark and pale spots). These fi ndings further add to the large number of endemic species known from the rugged, high rainfall zone of the north-west Kimberley.

Surveys to remote tropical areas of the world have continued to lead to new discoveries of species, including vertebrates. A recent survey in January 2010 to the northwest Kimberley was undertaken to look for new frog species. Among the taxa discovered (including plants and land snails) was a small species of Litoria in the Prince Regent River Nature Reserve. Litoria axillaris sp. nov. is superfi cially similar in appearance (body shape, limbs and webbing) and in call structure to L. tornieri, a ground hylid which occurs in the Kimberley region and east to the Top End of the Northern Territory. The new species differs, however, in being smaller (22.0-25.0 v. 28.5-33.0 mm total length), in possessing extensions of the lateral stripe posterior to the tympanum on the lower lateral surface and anteriorly to the tip of the snout, in having dorsolateral streaks, the upper lip pigmented, the chin only weakly pigmented on the edge of the jaw, and having thighs with poorly-defi ned markings. Litoria axillaris sp. nov. shares with L. tornieri similar advertisement calls, including intermittent and repetitive calls; however, pulse rates of calls of the new species are less than half of those in L. tornieri. Further, habitat use also differs noticably, with L. axillaris sp. nov. being found on top of sandstone platforms in highly dissected terrain while L. tornieri occurs in grasslands in tropical savannah. The new species is the fi fth to be discovered and described as a result of wet season surveys targeting frogs in the Kimberley region since 2005. Its discovery highlights the high vertebrate endemism of the high rainfall zone of the northwest Kimberley and underscores the importance of protecting this biodiversity through the establishment of more extensive reserves and their proper management.

Egernia depressa is an extremely spiny species of scincid lizard that occurs in several populations with highly variable morphology in western Australia. Using a combination of fi xed morphological character differences and mitochondrial DNA sequence data, we found evidence for four species level groups within the complex. We restrict E. depressa to the log-inhabiting population from south-western Australia and resdescribe the species, and describe three new species from the arid zone: two from the Pilbara and one from the central ranges. In addition to the genetic differences, the species differ in head size, limb length, tail shape, colouration and scalation. Many of the morphological characters appear to be adaptations to log or rock-dwelling, with the log-dwelling E. depressa having brown colouration, large head, limbs and tail and long thin spines on the body and tail. The two Pilbara species are not each other's closest relatives, yet they resemble each other the closest, probably owing to a suite of characters adapted for living in rock crevices such as yellow to reddish colouration, smaller head and limbs, narrower tail and short strong spines on the body and tail. The central ranges species appears to have a combination of characters from log and rock-dwelling forms and is the most isolated of the four species.