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The Hoang Lien Range in northwest Vietnam is known to harbour five species of Leptobrachella, a specious genus of terrestrial frogs. We collected specimens of Leptobrachella from Mount Pu Ta Leng on the second highest peak in the Hoang Lien Range and use morphological and molecular data to show that this population represents a previously undescribed species which we name Leptobrachella graminicola sp. nov. after the abundance of calling males on sedge-like plants. This new species is closely related to L. bourreti but the new species is distinguished from L. bourreti and other congeneric species by a combination of the following characters: (1) a body size range of 23.1–24.6 mm in six adult males and 28.6–32.9 mm in five adult females; (2) skin on dorsum smooth, with many tubercles and lacking dermal ridges; (3) toes with rudimentary webbing and broad lateral fringes; (4) belly white with brown spots; (5) throat dark brown with light grey-brown flecks and spots; (6) a row of large white spots on the outer edge of the tarsus extending from the heel to the inner metatarsal tubercle, sometimes forming a long white stripe; and (7) a bicoloured iris. The new, high-elevation species is likely to be range-restricted and threatened by habitat loss and the activities of tourists.

A new vine snake, genus Ahaetulla, from Soc Trang Province, southern Vietnam is described based on morphological data and nucleotide sequences from COI and Cytb. Ahaetulla rufusoculara sp. nov. is diagnosed by the following morphological characters: bright red eyes; snout without dermal appendage; internasal separated from supralabial by loreal; body scale rows 15-15-13; ventrals 186–190 in males and 182–185 in females; subcaudals 143–153 in males and 128 or 129 in females; 8 (rarely 9) supralabials, fourth and fifth or fourth to sixth entering orbit; 12–14 maxillary teeth; hemipenis short, reaching 6th or 7th SC; cloacal plate divided; dorsum bright green; and yellow or white stripe along the lower flank. The new species differs from its congeners by an uncorrected p-distance in COI and Cytb sequences of at least 7.7% and 7.5%, respectively.

A new species of the genus Gekko Laurenti, 1768 is described from Phu Yen Province, southern Vietnam based on morphological and molecular evidence. Gekko phuyenensis sp. nov. differs from other congeners by its moderate size, with a snout-vent length of 90.2–92.8 mm; nares in contact with rostral; internasal 1; interorbitals 35 or 36; ventrals 30–32; dorsal tubercle rows 9 or 10; precloacal pores 12 or 13 in males and precloacal pits 13 in female; subdigital lamellae under first finger 18–21, fourth finger 19 or 20, first toe 18–20, and fourth toe 21–23; subcaudals median enlarged; no webbing between toes; and the absence of tubercles on hind limbs. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial gene COI (681 bp) using the geckos from Phu Yen and its congeners in southern Vietnam resolve the new species as the sister lineage to G. cf. grossmanni from Khanh Hoa Province. Genetic distances between G. phuyenensis sp. nov. and its congeners in southern Vietnam range from 16.9–24.2%. The discovery of this new species raises the number of known species of Gekko in Vietnam to 14.

A new species of Limnonectes from Phu Yen Province, South-central Vietnam is described based on morphological and molecular differences. Morphologically, the new species is distinguishable from its congeners on the basis of a combination of the following diagnostic characters: SVL 49.8–77.9 mm in males, 40.8–61.8 mm in females; males with moderately enlarged head (HL/SVL 0.47, HW/SVL 0.48); head slightly broader than long (HL/HW 0.97 in males, 0.95 in females); vomerine teeth present; external vocal sacs absent; rostral length short (RL/SVL 0.15); tympanum invisible; dorsal surface of head, body and flanks with ridges and tubercles; dorsal surface of tibia and foot distinctly tuberculate, covered with moderately dense, small, low tubercles; supratympanic fold present; dorsolateral fold absent; Finger I with nuptial pad, composed of minute spines on dorsal surface and medial edge in males; toes webbed to distal of terminal phalanx, webbing formula I0–0II0–0III0–0IV0-–0V0; in life, dorsum yellowish brown with dark brown markings; ventral surface white with brown markings. In phylogenetic analyses, the new species from Vietnam and Limnonectes fastigatus as well as L. kiziriani form a clade, which is sister to L. fragilis from China, although the nodal support values for the set of relationships are insignificant from all analyses.

We describe the tadpole of the Botsford’s leaf-litter frog Leptobrachella botsfordi, a species endemic to Mount Fansipan in northwest Vietnam, for the first time. Tadpoles of this species were found in steep, fast-flowing streams at elevations between 2500–2600 m asl. We also report a previously unknown locality for this species on Mount Fansipan, which increases the species’ known Extent of Occurrence from 8 km2 to 36 km2. Our findings will inform subsequent conservation initiatives for this poorly known and highly threatened species.

Megophrys Kuhl and Van Hasselt are an Asian radiation of terrestrial frogs which are usually associated with montane forest (Mahony et al. 2017). The Annam horned frog (Megophrys intermedia) is reported from montane evergreen forest in Vietnam and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Stuart 2005; Hendrix et al. 2008; Nguyen et al. 2009; Tran 2013; Orlov et al. 2015; IUCN 2017; Mahony et al. 2017). The IUCN Red List assessment for the species reports an elevational range of 782–1500 m asl (IUCN 2017) although the type locality was reported to be above 1500 m asl (Smith 1921), and Tran (2013) collected a specimen at 1515 m asl. Megophrys intermedia is assessed as Least Concern (IUCN 2017) and little is known about the reproductive behaviour and life history of the species. In Lam Dong Province (Vietnam), male M. intermedia call in March (Tran 2013); on the Langbian Plateau (Vietnam), male specimens are reported to call by day and by night from March to May and specimens called from within deep crevices between boulders in streams (Smith 1921); in Xe Kong Province (Laos), males call or guard egg clutches that are laid in water in July (Stuart 2005).

Frogs in the genus Megophrys are an Asian radiation of stream-breeding frogs. The tadpoles of many Megophrys species are undescribed; those that are described are often dubiously allocated to species by association with post metamorphic specimens at collection sites and without supportive molecular data. We provide detailed descriptions of the larvae of five species of Megophrys from the Hoang Lien Range in northwest Vietnam: Megophrys fansipanensis, M. gigantica, M. hoanglienensis, M. jingdongensis and M. maosonensis. Tadpoles from different subgenera differ from each other via a combination of patternation in life, oral disc shape and tail morphology but given the small sample size, and limited number of species it is unlikely that these differences can be applied more widely to delineate subgenera. Morphological differences between tadpoles from species within the subgenus Panophrys were insufficient to clearly delineate all species. The ability to identify tadpoles is likely to advance our understanding of the frog fauna in mainland southeast Asia.

Asian Mountain Toads (Ophryophryne) are a poorly known genus of mostly small-sized anurans from southeastern China and Indochina. To shed light on the systematics within this group, the most comprehensive mitochondrial DNA phylogeny for the genus to date is presented, and the taxonomy and biogeography of this group is discussed. Complimented with extensive morphological data (including associated statistical analyses), molecular data indicates that the Langbian Plateau, in the southern Annamite Mountains, Vietnam, is one of the diversity centres of this genus where three often sympatric species of Ophryophryne are found, O. gerti, O. synoria and an undescribed species. To help resolve outstanding taxonomic confusion evident in literature (reviewed herein), an expanded redescription of O. gerti is provided based on the examination of type material, and the distributions of both O. gerti and O. synoria are considerably revised based on new locality records. We provide the first descriptions of male mating calls for all three species, permitting a detailed bioacoustics comparison of the species. We describe the new species from highlands of the northern and eastern Langbian Plateau, and distinguish it from its congeners by a combination of morphological, molecular and acoustic characters. The new species represents one of the smallest known members of the genus Ophryophryne. At present, the new species is known from montane evergreen forest between 700–2200 m a.s.l. We suggest the species should be considered Data Deficient following IUCN’s Red List categories.

Ba Den is an isolated mountain in southern Vietnam and home to two endemic species of lizards. Herein, we describe another endemic species, a new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950, from the area based on morphological data, including hemipenial characters and nucleotide sequences of COI. The following morphological characters diagnose Scincella badenensis sp. nov.: medium size in adults (snout-vent length up to 64.4 mm); toes reach to fingers when limbs adpressed; midbody scale rows 32–36, smooth; paravertebral scales 67–71; dorsal scales not enlarged; ventral scale rows 68–74; supraoculars four; prefrontals in broad contact with one another; loreal scales two; tympanum deeply sunk, without auricular lobules; two enlarged anterior temporal scales; smooth lamellae beneath toe IV 18–20; pair of enlarged precloacal scales; hemipenes short, smooth and forked near the tip with two short lobes and two small terminal papillae; no dorsal pattern in males; and females with black interruptive vertebral line. The new species differs from its congeners by at least 10.4% uncorrected p-distance in COI sequences.

Herein, we describe the new agamid species Acanthosaura phongdienensis sp. nov. from central Vietnam based on morphological and genetic data. Males of the new medium-sized species have a snout-vent length of up to 77.4 mm and females up to 64.7 mm. In both genders, the tail is longer than the snout-vent length. A spine occurs on each side of the neck, the rostral scute is entire, and the nuchal and dorsal crests are continuous. A postorbital spine is about half as long as the diameter of the eye-ball, and small lateral scales intermix with large, keeled scales whose tips point backwards and upwards. The new species differs genetically from the closely related species A. brachypoda, A. coronata, and A. lepidogaster by uncorrected p-distances of 13.6%, 21.7%, and 12.8%, respectively. This is the 13th species of Acanthosaura and the eighth species in the genus from Vietnam.

We describe a new species of Microhyla from Tram Lap forest, Gia Lai Province, Central Vietnam based on morphological, molecular, and acoustic data. The new species resembles M. butleri morphologically, but differs from all congeners by a combination of the following morphological attributes: (1) medium-sized adult snout–vent length 25.2–27.0 mm in 15 males and 30.5 mm in a single female; (2) body habitus moderately stocky; (3) head flat, snout rounded, slightly prominent in ventral profile; (4) dorsum and flanks slightly shagreened with evenly scattered tiny tubercles, ventral skin smooth; (5) first finger well developed, more than one-half the length of the second finger; (6) tips of three outer fingers slightly enlarged, forming weak disks and tips of all toes distinctly dilated into wide disks with narrow peripheral grooves; (7) finger and toe disks with dorsal median longitudinal grooves; (8) three palmar tubercles and two metatarsal tubercles; (9) tibiotarsal articulation of adpressed limb reaching slightly beyond the orbit; (10) webbing formula: I 1¾–2 II 1½–2¾ III 2–31/3 IV 3¼–1½ V; (11) in life, chin and throat yellowish to bright-orange with tiny dark brown speckling laterally; and (12) a call consisting of 15–26 pulses with a dominant frequency of 1.8–2.2 kHz (recorded at 18.5ºC). We also provide a preliminary genealogy of Microhyla based on analysis of a 2644 bp fragment of 12S–16S rRNA mitochondrial DNA. Based on the examed data, the new species and M. butleri are sister-species (genetic p-distance: 9.0%) and it can be distinguished from M. butleri by its morphology (size, webbing on toes, color) and advertisement call. Interspecific genetic p-distances between the new species and its congeners vary from 9.0% to 14.8%. Microhyla aurantiventris sp. nov. occurs in evergreen montane tropical forests at elevations around 1200 m a.s.l. and is known only from the type locality. The new species appears to be threatened due to intensive logging and agriculture plantation.

A new forest skink of the genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger, 1843 is described from Khanh Hoa Province, southern Vietnam based on morphological characters of four specimens and a fragment of 653 nucleotides of the gene COI. Sphenomorphus yersini sp. nov. is characterized by the following morphological characters: medium size in adults (snout-vent length up to 55 mm); tail length/snout-vent length ratio 1.81; toes reach to fingers when limbs adpressed; midbody scale rows 32–34, smooth; paravertebral scales 61–69; ventral scale rows 58–67; subcaudal scales 112; supraoculars four, rarely five; prefrontals in broad contact with one another; loreal scales two; tympanum deeply sunk; smooth lamellae beneath finger and toe IV 10–12 and 18–20 respectively; a pair of enlarged precloacal scales; hemipenis deeply forked and asymmetrical with two differently sized smooth lobes. The new species differs from its most similar congener, Sphenomorphus buenloicus Darevsky & Nguyen, 1983, by 16.4–16.7% uncorrected p-distance in COI sequences.

Nguyen, Sang Ngoc, Nguyen, Vu Dang Hoang, Nguyen, Thang Quoc, Le, Ngan Thanh Thi, Nguyen, Luan Thanh, Vo, Ba Dinh, Vindum, Jens V., Murphy, Robert W., Che, Jing, Zhang, Ya-Ping (2017): A new color pattern of the Bungarus candidus complex (Squamata: Elapidae) from Vietnam based on morphological and molecular data. Zootaxa 4268 (4): 563-572, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4268.4.7

A new kukri snake, Oligodon culaochamensis sp. nov., is described from Cu Lao Cham Islands, central Vietnam, based on the morphology of six specimens, including two males, three females and one juvenile. The new species belongs to the O. cyclurus group and differs from other congeners in this group by a combination of the following characters: medium size in adults (total length up to 582 mm); 17–19 dorsal scale rows at neck and midbody and 15 or 17 rows before vent; tail length/total length ratio 0.218–0.219 in males and 0.166–0.169 in females; ventrals 167–169 in males and 179–182 in females; subcaudals 63–66 in males and 51–52 in females; head scalation complete with a presubocular; 9–10 maxillary teeth, the posterior three being enlarged; nasal divided; temporal streak absent; long and deeply forked hemipenes extending to 20th subcaudal and without spines and papillae but with prominent diagonal ridge, oblique flounces and distal calyces; cloacal plate undivided; 10–11+3–4 dorsal blotches; and a vertebral stripe on tail and anterior part of body. This is the second species of Oligodon described on islands of Vietnam.