Karstic landscapes are immense reservoirs of biodiversity and range-restricted endemism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world’s third-largest vertebrate genus Cyrtodactylus (Gekkonidae) which contains well over 300 species. A stochastic character mapping analysis of 10 different habitat preferences across a phylogeny containing 344 described and undescribed species recovered a karst habitat preference occurring in 25.0% of the species, whereas that of the other eight specific habitat preferences occurred in only 0.2–11.0% of the species. The tenth category—general habitat preference—occurred in 38.7% of the species and was the ancestral habitat preference for Cyrtodactylus and the ultimate origin of all other habitat preferences. This study echoes the results of a previous study illustrating that karstic landscapes are generators of species diversity within Cyrtodactylus and not simply “imperiled arks of biodiversity” serving as refugia for relics. Unfortunately, the immense financial returns of mineral extraction to developing nations largely outweighs concerns for biodiversity conservation, leaving approximately 99% of karstic landscapes with no legal protection. This study continues to underscore the urgent need for their appropriate management and conservation. Additionally, this analysis supports the monophyly of the recently proposed 31 species groups and adds one additional species group.

A new bush frog species is described from Yunnan, China, based on phylogenetic analyses, species delimitation analyses, and morphological comparisons. Raorchestes hekouensissp. nov. is distinguished from all other congeners by a combination of 11 morphological characters. The new species brings the current number of Raorchestes species in China to ten, nine of which are distributed in Yunnan. Molecular analyses supported an unnamed lineage previously recorded as “Raorchestes gryllus” in northern Vietnam. Further studies including additional samples are necessary to clarify the species diversity and boundaries of Raorchestes in China and Indochina.

In this study, based on morphological and molecular data, a new bush frog species is described from Yunnan, China. Eleven samples of Raorchestes malipoensissp. nov. were collected from Malipo County, southeastern Yunnan. This species can be distinguished from other congeners by a combination of 13 morphological characters. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene indicate that these individuals form a monophyletic group, and genetic divergence between this clade and its closest relatives is higher than 3.1%, which is comparable to the divergence between recognized Raorchestes species. The discovery of this new species suggests that additional extensive surveys in the southeastern Yunnan would yield more amphibian lineages yet unknown to science.

A new species of the genus Amolops, Amolopsputaoensissp. nov., is described from northern Myanmar. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: (1) dorsolateral fold distinct; (2) upper-lip stripe white; (3) male body size 37.6-40.2 mm; (4) ground color of dorsal surface brown, flank green, small warts on dorsum; (5) two internal subgular vocal sacs present; (6) HL slightly shorter than HW; (7) two palmar tubercles present, supernumerary tubercles and outer metatarsal tubercle absent; (8) tympanum smaller than half of eye diameter; (9) vomerine teeth present; (10) tibiotarsal articulation reaching beyond snout tip; (11) supratympanic fold indistinct; (12) pineal body present; (13) finger webbing absent, presence of circummarginal groove on tip of first finger; (14) nuptial pads present. The population from Myanmar represented a distinct maternal lineage within the Amolops monticola group and was recovered as a sister taxon to Amolops aniqiaoensis with strong support (100) based on concatenated data. Average uncorrected pairwise distances ( P-distances) between the specimens from Myanmar and other species in the genus ranged from 2.69% (vs. A. aniqiaoensis) to 12.24% (vs. A. indoburmanensis) for 16S rRNA, 6.14% (vs. A. aniqiaoensis) to 15.79% (vs. A. panhai) for COI, and 9.66% (vs. A. aniqiaoensis) to 19.52% (vs. A. afghanus) for ND2.

It has been shown that species diversity of tree frogs in the genus Zhangixalus might have been underestimated. In this study, based on previously published data and newly collected samples from China, we constructed a phylogeny of the genus Zhangixalus using mitochondrial 12S rRNA-tRNA^Val-16S rRNA genes and revealed two novel lineages of Zhangixalus from southern China, one containing newly collected samples from Pingbian, Yunnan, and one containing samples from Chengbu, Hunan. Combining evidence from morphological comparison and species delimitation, we described these two lineages as two new species. Zhangixalus daweishanensissp. nov. from Mt. Dawei, Pingbian is sister to Z. dorsoviridis, and it can be distinguished from congeners by body size medium (SVL 30.0‒33.5 mm in males and 43.7‒50.7 mm in females); heels not meeting when legs positioned at right angle to body; internal vocal sac; dorsum uniformly green; black blotches in axilla, groin, and posterior part of thigh; and throat yolk yellow. Zhangixalus nanshanensissp. nov. from Nanshan National Park, Chengbu, Hunan, which has been confused with Z. nigropunctatus, is sister to the clade of Z. lishuiensis and Z. zhoukaiyae and is distinguishable from congeners by body size medium (SVL 28.1‒36.7 mm in males and 45.2 mm in a female); dorsum uniformly green; vocal sac external; throat yellow with greyish brown blotches; outer metatarsal tubercle absent; heels not meeting when legs positioned at right angle to body; and black blotches in axilla, groin, and posterior part of thigh. In addition, we considered the samples of nominal Z. dorsoviridis from Son La, Vietnam represent a cryptic species, and more studies are required to unravel the taxonomy and distribution of Z. dorsoviridis and Z. nigropunctatus complexes, as the taxonomic status of some records of these two species in China also remains unclear. We supported that Z. duboisi and Z. omeimontis are distinct from each other and considered that Z. zhoukaiyae and Z. lishuiensis are two separate species.

We described hereinZhangixalus yunnanensissp. nov., a new treefrog species from central and western Yunnan, China, which had previously been confused withZ. nigropunctatus, based on morphological and molecular evidence. Our phylogenetic analyses revealed that the new species is sister to the clade ofZ. nigropunctatusandZ. melanoleucuswith strong support (100% and 73% for BI and ML, respectively). Our morphological analysis suggested thatZ. yunnanensissp. nov.is distinctly different from all known congeners by the combination of the following morphological characters: black blotches on body flank and hind-limb, medium body size (SVL31.3–36.0 mm in males and 47.6–48.6 mm in females), head wider than long, iris yellowish-brown, dorsum uniformly green, vocal sac external, throat black, webbing greyish and fingers webbed one third and toes webbed half. Additionally, we revealed that the specimens ROM 38011 (Sa Pa, Vietnam) and VNMN 4099 (Son La, Vietnam) are neitherZ. dorsoviridisnorZ. nigropunctatus, but probably represent one or two cryptic species ofZhangixaluspending further morphological and molecular data. Including the new species described herein, the genusZhangixaluscurrently comprises 42 species, 30 of which are distributed in China with 11 species known from Yunnan. Amongst different zoogeographic regions in Yunnan, south-eastern Yunnan has the highest diversity ofZhangixalus, followed by western Yunnan and southern Yunnan. More studies are required to clarify the species diversity of this genus based on multiple lines of evidence (e.g. morphological and molecular data).