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A new species of natricine snake of the genus Rhabdophis is described from Northeast India. Morphologically the new species is similar to Rhabdophis himalayanus but it can be distinguished from it by lacking a nuchal groove and nuchal glands, being relatively smaller, and having a distinct neck, ventral, and subcaudal coloration. In overall coloration it resembles R. chrysargos, from which it is distinguished by several aspects of its morphology and genetic differences. The discovery of Rhabdophis bindi sp. nov. reveals that forested regions in the northeastern part of India needs further biological exploration.

Using a combination of morphological and molecular data we recognize three new species of Puppet Toad, Sigalegalephrynus Smart, Sarker, Arifin, Harvey, Sidik, Hamidy, Kurniawan & Smith, a recently described genus endemic to the highland forests of Sumatra, Indonesia. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences recovered a monophyletic relationship among all Puppet Toads, with two distinct evolutionary clades, a northern and a southern. The northern clade includes Sigalegalephrynus gayoluesensis sp. nov., and S. burnitelongensis sp. nov., and the southern clade includes S. harveyi sp. nov., S. mandailinguensis, and S. minangkabauensis. With the discovery of these three new species, Sigalegalephrynus contains more endemic species than any other genus of toad in Indonesia. We used maximum entropy, implemented in MaxEnt, to identify suitable habitats and occurrence probability of additional undescribed new species from the island. The most important predictors of Sigalegalephrynus distribution were elevation (64.5%) and land cover (7.11%). Based on the probability of presence, it is likely that there are many more species of the genus awaiting discovery in Sumatra. Our analysis, based on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species category and criteria, shows that all of the five species of Sigalegalephrynus are in great risk of extinction and should be placed into the Endangered (EN) category of IUCN Red List.

A new species of hylid frog is described from the southwestern edge of the Mexican Plateau from the states of Morelos and Mexico through Michoacan and Jalisco, reaching the Sierra Madre Occidental in Sinaloa and western Durango. The new species is part of the widespread Mexican hylid Sarcohyla bistincta ( sensu amplo ) complex, comprised of S. bistincta , S. pentheter , S. calthula , and S. ephemera . One subspecies of S. bistincta ( labeculata ) was proposed for an isolated population in Oaxaca. We restrict the group’s nominal species, S. bistincta ( sensu stricto ), to the Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico and southward into the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Examination of type material places S. calthula and S. ephemera in the synonymy of S. labeculata (new combination). The species allied to S. bistincta, namely , S. bistincta , S. labeculata , S. pentheter , and the new species described herein, are diagnosed and described following recent suggested taxonomic changes and new available material.

We describe a new genus and two new species of toads from the Sumatran volcanoes Gunung Sorikmarapi and G. Kunyit, in the provinces of Sumatera Utara and Jambi, respectively. The new taxa can be distinguished from other genera, and each other, based on genetic differentiation, morphology, and advertisement call structure. We employ both nuclear and mitochondrial data to provide a phylogenetic hypothesis of relationships for the bufonid genera of the Sunda Shelf. While broadly corroborating previous studies, our results also shed light on the phylogenetic position of Pseudobufo. The new genus, Duttaphrynus, and Pseudobufo are basal to other Sunda Shelf genera in our phylogenies.