A new genus and species of Caribbean forest lizard (Diploglossidae; Celestinae) from southern Hispaniola.

A new genus and species of Caribbean forest lizard of the subfamily Celestinae Schools & Hedges are described. This new taxon is known only from two small adjacent keys in the Laguna de Oviedo of the Parque Nacional Jaragua in the Barahona Peninsula, Dominican Republic, at the southernmost region of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The genus Guarocuyus gen. nov. is genetically more closely related to the clade containing Celestus Gray, Comptus Schools & Hedges, and Panolopus Cope; nevertheless, we compare it to all celestine genera. Morphologically, it differs from other celestines by having an interdigital web on three toes and by having the widest ear opening. Additionally, the species Guarocuyus jaraguanus sp. nov. has some ecological attributes that when combined, appear to be unique, including nocturnal habits, a semiprehensile tail, and a facultatively arboreal lifestyle. We note sexual dimorphism in the new species and in two other celestines, Caribicus darlingtoni (Cochran) and the poorly known Celestus macrotus Thomas & Hedges, and report a range extension of the latter species into the Dominican Republic. We also discuss several scale topography conditions considered of taxonomic value for the group.

New distributional records of the Samana least gecko (Sphaerodactylus samanensis, Cochran, 1932) with comments on its morphological variation and conservation status.

We report here five new localities across the distribution of the lizard Sphaerodactylus samanensis, extending its current geographic range to the west, in the Cordillera Central of Hispaniola. We also report phenotypic variation in the color pattern and scutellation on throat and pelvic regions of males from both eastern and western populations, which is described below. Furthermore, based on these new data, we confirm that the species is not fitting in its current IUCN category, and in consequence propose updating its conservation status.

A new species of Caribbean toad (Bufonidae, Peltophryne) from southern Hispaniola.

Peltophryne armata sp. nov. is described from the South paleoisland of Hispaniola, West Indies. This is the only native toad species known to inhabit the Barahona Peninsula, Dominican Republic, in the southernmost part of Hispaniola, and it is allopatric with the widely distributed Hispaniolan toad species, P. guentheri Cochran. However, in a molecular phylogeny, the closest relative of P. armata sp. nov. is the Puerto Rican species P. lemur Cope, with which it shares a protrusive snout, large orbits, a depressed head, indistinct or absent infraorbital crests, and a long and complex advertisement call, but differs from it greatly by the very long cephalic crests, and in the massive and spinose parotoid glands that converge medially on the dorsum. The new species is similar in ecology and larval morphology to the Cuban P. florentinoi Moreno Rivalta, but differs from it in adult morphology. The tadpole of the new species is described. Peltophryne fracta is placed in the synonymy of P. guentheri.