About 155 named species/subspecies of anurans, together with several caecilian species, reported from Borneo are considered to be valid, and at least 114 of these have been recorded from the state of Sabah, Malaysia. The general history of discovery of anuran fauna of Sabah from its beginning until now is outlined and the future of amphibian inventory in this state is discussed. From the curve of accumulated number of taxa, however, the number is expected to further increase and inventory will not be completed in the near future. In the past, accumulation of comparable materials led to the finding of several cryptic species. More recently, acoustic information greatly contributed to increment of records, and learning frog voices will prove a powerful tool to document local distribution as well as recognition of additional cryptic species. Another powerful method expected to contribute to compiling a more complete inventory is the biochemical method, such as analysis of mt DNA sequences. Applying these methods, a more intensive anuran inventory of Sabah should be made before the habitats of these animals are lost.

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Morphological and acoustic comparisons were made for three morphologically poorly defined Microhyla species, M. ornata, M. fissipes, and M. okinavensis on the basis of samples from south India, Taiwan, and three islands (Iriomote-jima, Okinawa-jima, and Amami-oshima) of the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. These three species differed from each other in various external characters, and could be separated by multivariate discriminant analyses. Mean SVL of males was significantly smaller in M. fissipes than in M. ornata and M. okinavensis. The length of the hindlimb relative to SVL increased from west (India) to east (Amami-oshima). Microhyla ornata showed a remarkable diurnal-nocturnal color change and had more extensive mottling on the throat and venter than the other two species. The Iriomote-jima population of M. okinavensis had a unique ventral mottling pattern that differed from the patterns in the other two conspecific populations examined, as well as from those in M. ornata and M. fissipes. Excepting the Iriomote-jima population, M. okinavensis had more extensive toe webbing than M. ornata and M. fissipes. Temporal acoustic features, especially pulse repetition rate, clearly discriminated the three species. The taxonomic status of the Iriomote-jima population deserves future investigation.

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Japalura polygonata is an arboreal agamid lizard native to the subtropical East Asian islands. Recently this lizard was found in large numbers in a coastal hilly area of southeastern Kyushu, which represents the temperate part of Japan. Morphological examination of the specimens collected revealed that this lizard assemblage belongs to the nominotypical subspecies (J. p. polygonata), which is endemic to the central Ryukyus. Specimens collected in the summer of 2005 included females with oviductal eggs. Another sampling carried out in the spring of 2006 yielded juveniles that supposedly hatched the previous summer and successfully overwintered. These, along with information from inhabitants and the local newspaper, strongly suggest that in the present area this subtropical tree lizard has already established a breeding population. The impact of this exotic species on the native ecosystem may be of substantial conservation concern.

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A nematode 22 cm in length was spontaneously expelled from a pond frog, Rana nigromaculata, collected from an irrigation ditch of a paddy field in Kobe, Japan. The worm was identified as a larva belonging to the family Mermithidae on the basis of cephalic structure, presence of six longitudinal cords, and cross fibers in the cuticle. This is the first record of a mermithid from the Amphibia in Japan. This family has also been only rarely recorded from the amphibians outside Japan. Probably the infection is accidental parasitism, because mermithids are mostly parasitic in arthropods.

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A female Hemidactylus frenatus, collected on 7 June 2004 and housed alone in a cage, produced a total of six clutches, each consisting of one or two eggs, until 24 June 2005. All eggs but one, including the one egg composing the last clutch, hatched to produce hatchlings that included a male. This indicates that females of this broadly distributed gecko can store functional sperms for more than one year. Such ability may have played an important role in the colonization by this gecko of tropical and particularly subtropical regions of Asia and the Pacific islands.

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