A small rhacophorid frog from southern Vietnam is placed in the genus Kurixalus through molecular phylogenetic analysis. Because it is divergent genetically and morphologically from all known congeners, we describe it as a distinct species, K. viridescens. The species differs from the other congeners by an immaculate green dorsum, which is usually maculated gray to brown in the other species. With the addition of this new species, Vietnam now encompasses seven species of Kurixalus, and can be regarded as the center of speciation of this genus.

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A small rhacophorid, Philautus petilus known from only the female holotype, is recorded for the first time outside of the type locality in Laos. Three specimens, containing the first known males of the species, were collected from Muong Nhe Nature Reserve in Dien Bien Province, northwestern Vietnam. The Vietnamese specimens are identified as P. petilus based on morphological similarities with the holotype from Laos. In addition, our molecular data verify the transfer of this species from Philautus to the genus Theloderma.

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The locomotor activity rhythm was examined under (1) constant darkness at 25C and (2) light-dark cycles (LD 12:12) at various temperatures ranging between 15 and 25C in adults of Gekko japonicus, a nocturnal lizard living in the temperate zone. The rhythm free-ran in constant darkness with a period of approximately 24 h, and thus the rhythm is controlled by a circadian clock. Gekko japonicus was more active at higher temperatures. Although there was a possibility that the activity distribution in photophase and scotophase in G. japonicus was affected by temperature, it showed nocturnal activity with a peak at 1–2 h after lights-off under LD 12:12 at all temperatures examined.

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I observed nine episodes of predation by juvenile Fejervarya kawamurai (20–24 mm snout-vent length [SVL]) on Hyla japonica juveniles (14–17 mm SVL) and froglets (18–34 mm total length) in a rice field in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. In one case, a predatory F. kawamurai (23 mm SVL) fully consumed a juvenile H. japonica (ca. 14 mm SVL). In other eight cases, the predator partially swallowed but eventually released the prey. In some of the latter cases, prey was larger than the predator. Released prey exhibited various injuries from repetitive biting and pushing with forelimbs by the predators in an attempt to swallow the former completely. Fejervarya kawamurai has recently been expanding beyond its historical range, and effects of their voracious predation on other frog species in newly invaded areas would be of a substantial conservation concern.

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A Southeast Asian dicroglossid frog, long known as Limnonectes laticeps, has recently been synonymized with L. khasianus. The Bornean population of this species is very divergent acoustically from some conspecific populations from the continent. Furthermore, in the mtDNA phylogeny, the Bornean population is nested in a clade with Bornean populations of the L. kuhlii complex, and not with the continental L. khasianus, which is close to L. tweediei and L. macrognathus. Because the Bornean population is also divergent morphologically from a continental population and the syntypes of Rana laticeps, we describe it as a new species.

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We investigated the phylogenetic status and pattern of geographic variation in Rhabdophis lateralis on the basis of samples from across continental China, southeastern Russia, and the Korean Peninsula. The results confirmed the monophyly of the species and also revealed its extremely low genetic divergence. The population genetic analyses suggested that such low intraspecific divergence may reflect recent rapid population growth from a small ancestral population, extensive gene flow, or both. We conclude that R. lateralis is a good species, as suggested by our previous study, which analyzed fewer continental samples from a more limited range.

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Chelonian skeletal remains from the Ogido Shell Mound were examined. Detailed comparisons of the remains with skeletal materials of extant and extinct turtles known from Okinawajima Island and adjacent waters revealed that the Ogido remains do not contain representatives of Pelodiscus sinensis or any other trionychids at all, although recent literature referred to the original excavation report of this shell mound as the only prehistoric record of the soft-shell turtles from the Central Ryukyus. Instead, two of the three bone pieces identified to particular taxa with certainty, were identified to Geoemyda japonica, and the other to a cheloniid species. Discovery of G. japonica from this site further supports the idea that this species, currently confined to the northern part on Okinawajima, had a much broader distribution on this island until recently.

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Several aspects of natural history of Blaesodactylus ambonihazo, a gecko distributed in a dry forest of northwestern Madagascar, were investigated in the rainy and dry seasons between 2000 and 2006. There were no significant sexual size differences in snout-vent length, and no sexual dimorphism was detected either in head width or body mass. Females ceased oogenesis during the rainy season and were recrudescent at the beginning of the dry season. They probably lay eggs in the middle of the dry season. Hatchlings were observed at the beginning of the rainy season and probably reach adult size in the subsequent dry season. At night geckos perched on tree trunks and buildings and exhibited typical sit-and-wait foraging. During the day they retreated to shelters, mainly crevices between buttress roots. The gecko was thermally passive to environmental temperatures, showing a wide range of cloacal temperatures (15–30 C), but they selected relatively higher substrate temperatures at low air temperature, possibly for thermoregulation. Because multiple individuals were observed on single trees, home ranges of the gecko were presumably overlapping each other, and no obvious territorial behavior was observed. The absence of male-biased sexual dimorphism, which suggests little male-male competition for mating, also supports the absence of territoriality of B. ambonihazo. Comparison with a syntopic diurnal gecko, Phelsuma kochi, which shows ecological characters similar to B. ambonihazo but has exclusive home ranges, may clarify ecological correlates associated with temporal niche partitioning.

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In order to clarify whether the populations of Pelodiscus from the main islands of Japan are indigenous or artificially introduced, we constructed a mitochondrial phylogeny among samples from Japan and adjacent regions. The results strongly suggested the presence in Japan of various mitochondrial haplotypes that largely formed two divergent groups, one supposedly corresponding to P. sinensis (Wiegmann, 1834) sensu stricto and the other to P. maackii (Brandt, 1857). Haplotypes putatively associated with P maackii were unique to, and broadly prevailing in Japan. This may reflect indigenous nature of P. maackii in Japan, which would be more appropriately referred to as P. japonicus (Temminck and Schlegel, 1835). The others, putatively associated with P. sinensis, were fewer in Japan, and included those shared with individuals sold in a fish market of the continental China, suggesting the current Japanese P. sinensis to be exotic.

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Hemidactylus flaviviridis was found at the Narita International Airport in a cargo that arrived from Shanghai, China. The specimen was identified using morphological and molecular techniques. The species is distributed from the Indian subcontinent to northeast Africa and has not been previously reported from Shanghai or from other parts of eastern China. Comparison of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene sequence of this individual with available data revealed that the sequence to be identical with that of the homologous gene of H. flaviviridis from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, but differed by 2.9–4.0% uncorrected p distance from conspecific samples obtained from India and Pakistan, suggesting indirect transportation of the gecko individual from around Dubai to Japan, via Shanghai. This finding highlights future risks of colonization of exotic geckos to the warm temperate and subtropical regions of East Asia.

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