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Gunung Mulu National Park (GMNP) in northwestern Borneo is marked by high species diversity and diverse environments. We present one new amphibian and ten new reptile records from GMNP and its surrounding area. In the records, Asthenodipsas jamilinaisi and Garthius chaseni were newly recorded in the Sarawak State. We also present the first record of Cyrtodactylus muluensis from outside of GMNP and the second record of Opisthotropis typica from the park. Combined with previous information, a total of 108 amphibians and 104 reptiles are known from GMNP, and their preferred habitat types are diverse. Furthermore, observed male-male combat of Dopasia buettikoferi is the first detailed description of the genus. Two color morphs of D. buettikoferi had an identical ND2 haplotype and appeared to be the same species. The present study provides new information about Bornean amphibians and reptiles, and also emphasizes the importance of continuous monitoring.

Taxa with vast distribution ranges often display unresolved phylogeographic structures and unclear taxonomic boundaries resulting in hidden diversity. This hypothesis-driven study reveals the evolutionary history of Bufonidae, covering the phylogeographic patterns found in Holarctic bufonids from the West Gondwana to the phylogenetic taxonomy of Asiatic true toads in the Eastern Palearctic. We used an integrative approach relying on fossilized birth-death calibrations, population dynamics, gene-flow, species distribution, and species delimitation modeling to resolve the biogeography of the clade and highlight cryptic lineages. We verified the near-simultaneous Miocene radiations within Western and Eastern Palearctic Bufo, c. 14.49–10.00 Mya, temporally matching with the maximum dust outflows in Central Asian deserts. Contrary to earlier studies, we demonstrated that the combined impacts of long dispersal and ice-age refugia equally contributed to the current genetic structure of Bufo in East Asia. Our findings reveal a climate-driven adaptation in septentrional Eastern Asian Bufo, explaining its range shifts toward northern latitudes. We resolve species boundaries within the Eastern Palearctic Bufo, and redefine the taxonomic and conservation units of the northeastern species: B. sachalinensis and its subspecies.

The secretive behavior and life history of snakes makes studying their biology, distribution, and the epidemiology of venomous snakebite challenging. One of the most useful, most versatile, and easiest to collect types of biological data are photographs, particularly those that are connected with geographic location and date-time metadata. Photos verify occurrence records, provide data on phenotypes and ecology, and are often used to illustrate new species descriptions, field guides and identification keys, as well as in training humans and computer vision algorithms to identify snakes. We scoured eleven online and two offline sources of snake photos in an attempt to collect as many photos of as many snake species as possible, and attempt to explain some of the inter-species variation in photograph quantity among global regions and taxonomic groups, and with regard to medical importance, human population density, and range size. We collected a total of 725,565 photos—between 1 and 48,696 photos of 3098 of the world's 3879 snake species (79.9%), leaving 781 “most wanted” species with no photos (20.1% of all currently-described species as of the December 2020 release of The Reptile Database). We provide a list of most wanted species sortable by family, continent, authority, and medical importance, and encourage snake photographers worldwide to submit photos and associated metadata, particularly of “missing” species, to the most permanent and useful online archives: The Reptile Database, iNaturalist, and HerpMapper.

Eusocial insects can express surprisingly complex cooperative defence of the colony. Brood and reproductive castes typically remain in the nest and are protected by workers' various antipredator tactics against intruders. In Madagascar, a myrmicine ant, Aphaenogaster swammerdami, occurs sympatrically with a large blindsnake, Madatyphlops decorsei. As blindsnakes generally specialize on feeding on termites and ants brood by intruding into the nest, these snakes are presumably a serious predator on the ant. Conversely, a lamprophiid snake, Madagascarophis colubrinus, is considered to occur often in active A. swammerdami nests without being attacked. By presenting M. colubrinus, M. decorsei and a control snake, Thamnosophis lateralis, at the entrance of the nest, we observed two highly specialized interactions between ants and snakes: the acceptance of M. colubrinus into the nest and the cooperative evacuation of the brood from the nest for protection against the ant-eating M. decorsei. Given that M. colubrinus is one of the few known predators of blindsnakes in this area, A. swammerdami may protect their colonies against this blindsnake by two antipredator tactics, symbiosis with M. colubrinus and evacuation in response to intrusion by blindsnakes. These findings demonstrate that specialized predators can drive evolution of complex cooperative defence in eusocial species.

Warning coloration and Batesian mimicry are classic examples of Darwinian evolution, but empirical evolutionary patterns are often paradoxical. We test whether foraging costs predict the evolution of striking coloration by integrating genetic and ecological data for aposematic and mimetic snakes (Elapidae and Dipsadidae). Our phylogenetic comparison on a total of 432 species demonstrated that dramatic changes in coloration were well predicted by foraging strategy. Multiple tests consistently indicated that warning coloration and conspicuous mimicry were more likely to evolve in species where foraging costs of conspicuous appearance were relaxed by poor vision of their prey, concealed habitat, or nocturnal activity. Reversion to crypsis was also well predicted by ecology for elapids but not for dipsadids. In contrast to a theoretical prediction and general trends, snakes' conspicuous coloration was correlated with secretive ecology, suggesting that a selection regime underlies evolutionary patterns. We also found evidence that mimicry of inconspicuous models (pitvipers) may have evolved in association with foraging demand for crypsis. These findings demonstrate that foraging is an important factor necessary to understand the evolution, persistence, and diversity of warning coloration and mimicry of snakes, highlighting the significance of additional selective factors in solving the warning coloration paradox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the observation of defensive behavior in a juvenile Oligodon purpurascens, a species of kukri snake found in Southeast Asia, including biting, wrapping around a snake hook, and displaying tail-curling behavior, which is documented here for the first time for this species.

We conducted a radio-tracking study on Rhabdophis tigrinus to assess its spatial ecology in the Ashiu Forest Research Station, Kyoto, Japan from 2009 to 2010. The study site is located in a temperate mountain area and includes forests, grasslands, a river, open riverbanks, and small brooks. We estimated the width and area of home ranges for 11 and 10 individuals, respectively. Home range size showed a large individual variation, with home range width ranging from 97 to 997 m and area ranging from 1.3 to 11.0 ha. We did not find obvious sexual differences or effects of body size on home range size. Tracked snakes tended to aggregate in riverside areas in spring, although females were sometimes found away from the river. Compared to spring, snakes in summer and fall were relatively dispersed and more likely to be located in brookside areas or places apart from water bodies. Eight individuals moved from riverside areas to brookside areas in summer. We located hibernation sites of nine individuals. Before hibernation, four individuals moved to a mountain ridge or a steep rocky slope where snakes were never found in warmer seasons, whereas the other five individuals hibernated within their warm-season home range. Neither sex nor body size seemed to be related to the occurrence of migratory movements in summer and before hibernation. Previous studies based on visual surveys have suggested bimodal seasonal activity of R. tigrinus, with peaks in spring and fall. However, activity of the tracked snakes in our study did not decrease in summer compared to that in spring, suggesting underestimation of summer activity in the visual survey method. Our results suggest that R. tigrinus migrates to use different habitats among seasons, although there is individual variation in migratory behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article details a case of mortality in Elaphe quadrivirgata (Japanese Four-lined Ratsnake) attributed to the ingestion of a toxic newt.