Species of the genus Brachycephalus are endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, where they inhabit amidst the leaf litter. Depending on their phenotypic traits, these small-sized amphibians are commonly referred to as either flea-toads or pumpkin toadlets. Among them, the pumpkin toadlets (with a bufoniform phenotype) have received more extensive research attention. These individuals are often conspicuous, and prevalent in their natural habitat. In contrast, the flea-toads (leptodactyliform species) are brownish, cryptic with the background. This scarcity has led to their reduced scientific attention, including in the realm of taxonomy. Thus, we herein describe a new species of the genus Brachycephalus from montane forests of the Estação Ecológica de Bananal, in the municipality of Bananal, state of São Paulo, Brazil. The new species is characterized by having a leptodactyliform body; adult SVL 6.9–9.0 mm for males and 9.2–9.6 mm for females; smooth skin lacking hyperossification; snout rounded in dorsal view; finger II with pointed tips; toe I absent (lacking phalanges), and toes II, III, IV and V distinct; toe II with rounded tips; brown background with few golden spots scattered aleatory in the general coloration of dorsal surfaces and cloacal region; presence of a dark brown stripe along the flanks and the thigh; yellow blotches on the ventral surfaces; presence of dark brown strips on the legs. Based on molecular phylogeny, we recognize the Brachycephalus puri species group, based on a clade composed by B. puri sister to the new species plus a candidate new species. The new species probably has a restricted geographic distribution, and its discovery reinforces the importance of deeper taxonomic effort with the brownish leptodactyliform species of the genus.

Amphibia, Atlantic Forest, taxonomy, natural history, phylogeny, Brachycephaloidea, direct-developing anurans

Ivan NUNES, Mariana L. LYRA, Thatnara M. MACHADO, Andres Santiago CARRASCO-MEDINA, Felipe Silva de ANDRADE, Isabelle Aquemi HAGA, Lucas M. BOTELHO, Mariana PEDROZO, Isabel G. VELASCO, Fernando De Castro JACINAVICIUS, Jaimi A. GRAY, David C. BLACKBURN, Tiana KOHLSDORF, Edélcio MUSCAT and L. Felipe TOLEDO. 2025. A New Species of Flea-toad of the Genus Brachycephalus Fitzinger, 1826 (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from the Cloud Forests of Serra do Mar, southeastern Brazil.  Zootaxa. 5691(2); 231-256. DOI: doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5691.2.3 [2025-09-09]

Murina is a wide-ranging genus of insectivorous bats that occurs throughout Asia whose known diversity has recently been increasing with the description of 26 new species in the past 20 years. The Philippine archipelago—mostly comprised of islands with oceanic origin and thus a history of isolation—has produced a fauna rich in endemic species, including bats. Here, we describe the morphological and genetic diversity among Murina specimens collected from across the Philippine islands and compare them to representatives from the Southeast Asian mainland and adjacent islands. Our results show that the wide-spread M. cyclotis represents a radiation, beginning around 11 mya, of five distinct Murina species endemic to the Philippines, including three single-island endemics. These five new M. cyclotis group species are mostly allopatric in distribution, except for two species—the smallest and largest that occur in the Philippines—that co-occur on Mindanao Island. Our study documents Murina suilla, a species occurring in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and only occurring on Mindoro and Palawan Islands within the Philippines. Additionally, we describe a new species that is sister to M. suilla and is widespread across the Philippine archipelago. Overall, our study has increased the number of Philippine Murina species from two to seven. As the first phylogeographic analysis of a laryngeal echolocating bat genus within the Philippines, our study provides evidence that the diversification of understory insectivorous bats largely echoes that of fruit bats (Pteropodidae), which is characterized by endemic Philippine lineages that are primarily confined to known biogeographic regions that constitute sets of modern islands that were connected during the last ice age, or to individual oceanic islands. We hypothesize that subsequent phylogeographic investigations of other bat taxa may reveal similar, previously unrecognized, endemic radiations within the highly biodiverse Philippines.

Judith L. EGER, Jodi L. SEDLOCK, Burton K. LIM and Lawrence R. HEANEY. 2025. Systematics and Biogeography of Tube-nosed Bats, Murina (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), from the Philippines with Descriptions of Six New Species.  Zootaxa. 5691(1); 1-44. DOI: doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5691.1.1 [2025-09-08]

Mount Tompotika Spiny Rat

Thomas C Giarla, Anang S Achmadi, Pierre-Henri Fabre, Heru Handika, Austin S Chipps, Mark T Swanson, Jonathan A Nations, Muhd Amsyari Morni, Julius William-Dee, Nurul Inayah, Endah Dwijayanti, Muhammad Rizaldi Trias Jaya Putra Nurdin, Kyra E Griffin, Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan, Lawrence R Heaney, Kevin C Rowe and Jacob A Esselstyn. 2025. Systematics and Historical Biogeography of Crunomys and Maxomys (Muridae: Murinae), with the Description of A New Species from Sulawesi and New Genus-level Classification. Journal of Mammalogy. 106(4); 832–858, DOI: doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyaf006 [13 June 2025]