On the occurrence of two species of striped Ichthyophis Fitzinger, 1826 (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Ichthyophiidae) from Mizoram, India

The occurrence of 2 ichthyophiid caecilians, Ichthyophis khumzhi Kamei, Wilkinson, Gower & Biju, 2009 and Ichthyophis moustakius Kamei, Wilkinson, Gower & Biju, 2009 in the state of Mizoram in northeast India is reported for the first time. These records significantly increase the known distribution range of these striped forms of Ichthyophis which were previously known only from their type localities in the state of Manipur

Molecular evidence for the taxonomic status of Hemidactylus brookii group taxa (Squamata: Gekkonidae)

Hemidactylus brookii has one of the widest distributions and, arguably, one of the most confused taxonomic histories of any gekkonid lizard. Nuclear (RAG1 and PDC) and mitochondrial (ND2, cyt b ) DNA sequence data were employed to examine relationships among a sample of putative H. brookii , including a topotypical specimen from Borneo. Two clades were recovered, one consisting of specimens from Borneo (Sarawak), Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia and Karnataka, southwestern India, and another of specimens from Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Kerala, southwestern India. Both clades are well supported and deeply divergent from one another, whereas genetic variation within each clade is limited. None of the analytical approaches used recovered a well-supported monophyletic H. brookii sensu lato . Near uniformity of H. brookii sensu stricto in East Asia suggests that this species has spread to this region relatively recently. The name H. parvimaculatus Deraniyagala 1953 is available for the Sri Lankan clade and this form should be treated as a valid species. Existing data cannot be used to distinguish whether this species has colonized Sri Lanka from South India or vice versa. The Palghat Gap provides a candidate barrier to gene flow between H. brookii and H. parvimaculatus . Although the identity of H. brookii complex geckos in East Asia and Sri Lanka appears resolved, the situation in India and Pakistan remains complex and thorough revisionary work, coupled with phylogenetic studies, is needed to determine species boundaries in this regio

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Occurrence of the Ceylon Frogmouth Batrachostomus Moniliger (Family Podargidae) in Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra

Volume: 99Start Page: 116End Page: 11

Occurrence of Cnemaspis Kandiana (Kelaart), Family Gekkonidae, in Amboli, Maharashtra

Volume: 98Start Page: 454End Page: 45

Figure 3 in 'On the rocks': reproductive biology of the endemic toad Xanthophryne (Anura: Bufonidae) from the Western Ghats, India

Figure 3. Xanthophryne male advertisement calls. Macrotemoporal structure of advertisement call of Xanthophryne koynayensis (a) and Xanthophryne tigerina (e). Microtemporal call structure of X. koynayensis (b, c) and X. tigerina (f, g) of a single advertisement call. Power spectrum showing the distribution of energy in a call of X. koynayensis (d) and X. tigerina (h).Published as part of Gaitonde, Nikhil, Giri, Varad & Kunte, Krushnamegh, 2016, 'On the rocks': reproductive biology of the endemic toad Xanthophryne (Anura: Bufonidae) from the Western Ghats, India, pp. 2557-2572 in Journal of Natural History 50 on page 2562, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2016.1200686, http://zenodo.org/record/399456

On the occurrence of two species of striped Ichthyophis Fitzinger, 1826 (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Ichthyophiidae) from Mizoram, India

The occurrence of 2 ichthyophiid caecilians, Ichthyophis khumzhi Kamei, Wilkinson, Gower & Biju, 2009 and Ichthyophis moustakius Kamei, Wilkinson, Gower & Biju, 2009 in the state of Mizoram in northeast India is reported for the first time. These records significantly increase the known distribution range of these striped forms of Ichthyophis which were previously known only from their type localities in the state of Manipur

'On the rocks': reproductive biology of the endemic toad Xanthophryne (Anura: Bufonidae) from the Western Ghats, India

Gaitonde, Nikhil, Giri, Varad, Kunte, Krushnamegh (2016): 'On the rocks': reproductive biology of the endemic toad Xanthophryne (Anura: Bufonidae) from the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Natural History 50: 2557-2572, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2016.1200686, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2016.120068

Figure 6 in 'On the rocks': reproductive biology of the endemic toad Xanthophryne (Anura: Bufonidae) from the Western Ghats, India

Figure 6. Road kill of a gravid Xanthophryne tigerina female.Published as part of Gaitonde, Nikhil, Giri, Varad & Kunte, Krushnamegh, 2016, 'On the rocks': reproductive biology of the endemic toad Xanthophryne (Anura: Bufonidae) from the Western Ghats, India, pp. 2557-2572 in Journal of Natural History 50 on page 2569, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2016.1200686, http://zenodo.org/record/399456

Migration of the Commander Butterfly Limenitis Procris (Cramer)

Volume: 98Start Page: 301End Page: 30