Taxonomic reassessment and nomenclatural status of Niceforonia dolops and Hylodes philippi (Amphibia: Anura: Strabomantidae).

The taxonomic and nomenclatural status of Hylodes philippi and H. verrucosus have been in state of flux. Some problems regarding their identity were noticed in 1971, which were partly solved with the finding of the purportedly lost type of H. verrucosus in 2006 and the morphological revisions of both H. philippi and H. verrucous in 2008 and 2012, upon which they were considered conspecific and closely related to the Eleutherodactylus dolops group; H. verrucosus became a junior synonym of H. philippi, and the latter, a nomen dubium within Hypodactylus (later, Niceforonia). The reexamination of the type series of Eleutherodactylus dolops Lynch & Duellman, 1980 and the types of Hylodes verrucosus Jimnez de la Espada, 1875 and H. philippi Jimnez de la Espada, 1875, suggests that they are conspecific. Accordingly, Eleutherodactylus dolops is herein regarded as junior synonym of H. philippi and a new combination, Niceforonia philippi (Jimnez de la Espada, 1875), and a new diagnosis are granted. This species is known from a few scattered localities along the montane forest of the Amazonian versant of the Andes from Orellana and Napo provinces in northern Ecuador to Sibundoy in southwestern Colombia, and little to nothing is known about its natural history and population trends.

Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea.

We present a comprehensive catalogue of the reptiles of Equatorial Guinea, consisting of 118 species belonging to 67 genera and 22 families. There are two species of Crocodylia, ten of Testudines and 106 of Squamata; this last taxon is represented by 62 species of snakes, two amphisbaenians and 42 lizards. Of these 118 species, seven are present only in Annobon, seven only in Bioko, 47 only in Río Muni, 53 occur both in Bioko and Río Muni (or Bioko, Río Muni and other islands), and four are sea turtles. Despite its high diversity, the level of endemism of Bioko is relatively low, with only four endemic species out of the 60 species reported for the island. In contrast, despite its low diversity, Annobon has the highest endemicity level, with five endemic species (and two introduced). No endemic species are known for the rest of the regions of Equatorial Guinea, which contain 100 species. We reveal several new country and species records, and point to some pending taxonomic questions to be addressed. Among the new species records, we highlight the presence of Cyclanorbis elegans, which represents the most meridional known population of the genus. Additional species are expected to be found in Equatorial Guinea as further field and taxonomic work is developed.

A new species of Phrynopus from the northeastern Andes of Peru, its phylogenetic position, and notes on the relationships of Holoadeninae (Anura: Craugastoridae).

We report the discovery of a geographically disjunct and morphologically distinctive species of direct-developing frog of the genus Phrynopus (Phrynopus mariellaleo sp. nov.) that changes considerably our understanding of the distribution of species in this Andean genus. The type locality lies on a subcordillera (Cerro de Campanario area) of the extreme northeastern portion of the Cordillera Central of Peru, on the headwaters of the Mayo River, Amazonas department, at 2575 m asl (6°6'42.9''S, 77°26'24''W). This area is situated 170 km to the NE from the northernmost record of Phrynopus known so far. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of a supermatrix (13269 aligned positions of gene sequences of four mitochondrial and ten nuclear genes) of 105 terminals (representing 93 named and 9 unnamed species of Holoadeninae) recover this new species as the sister to Phrynopus auriculatus, a species occurring more than 500 km south of the type locality of the new species. Both Phrynopus auriculatus and the new species occur at moderate elevations on the easternmost stretches of the Andean subcordilleras; their sister relationship point to a potentially broader distribution of species of Phrynopus along the poorly sampled intervening areas of the eastern hills of the Andes. The new species has a conspicuous and visibly large tympanic membrane (a trait rare in the clade), outlined by a marked bold black supratympanic fold and a black facial mask, and exhibits conspicuous dorsolateral, scapular, and middorsal Y-shaped folds. Specimens were found on the forest floor-a rocky substrate covered by a thick layer of leaf litter, moss and roots-of a primary humid montane forest (Yungas ecoregion) with scattered patches of bamboo (Chusquea spp.). Our phylogenetic analyses corroborate the monophyly of all Holoadeninae genera, including Euparkerella and Psychrophrynella, genera for which tests of monophyly were pending, and corroborates Hypodactylus nigrovittatus as part of Hypodactylus and sister to a clade that includes H. brunneus, H. elassodiscus and H. peraccai.

A new morphologically cryptic species of Phyllomedusa (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) from Amazonian forests of northern Peru revealed by DNA sequences.

We describe and name Phyllomedusa chaparroi sp. nov., a medium-sized species (snout-vent length in adult males 67.9-77.5 mm) of monkey frog from Amazonian rainforests of northern Peru. Although morphologically most similar to P. boliviana and P. camba (indistinguishable from the latter in external qualitative and quantitative traits), phylogenetic analysis of combined mitochondrial and nuclear markers place the new species sister to a clade containing P. neildi, P. tarsius, and P. trinitatis. Phyllomedusa chaparroi can be readily differentiated from these species by having a dark reddish-brown iris with indistinct tiny orange spots versus an orange iris with marked dark reticulation found in P. neildi, P. tarsius, and P. trinitatis. Furthermore, genetic distances for a 532 bp sequence of the 16S gene between the new species and its sister species are 2.8-4.1 %, whereas distances are 4.5-5.5 % to the morphologically cryptic P. camba. We briefly discuss the importance of DNA sequences in revealing morphologically cryptic species and modify the content of the P. tarsius species group based on phylogenetic analyses and observations on iris coloration.