A new species of skink is described by my team in South Vietnam

A new forest skink of the genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger, 1843 is described from Khanh Hoa Province, southern Vietnam based on morphological characters of four specimens and a fragment of 653 nucleotides of the gene COI. Sphenomorphus yersini sp. nov. is characterized by the following morphological characters: medium size in adults (snout-vent length up to 55 mm); tail length/snout-vent length ratio 1.81; toes reach to fingers when limbs adpressed; midbody scale rows 32–34, smooth; paravertebral scales 61–69; ventral scale rows 58–67; subcaudal scales 112; supraoculars four, rarely five; prefrontals in broad contact with one another; loreal scales two; tympanum deeply sunk; smooth lamellae beneath finger and toe IV 10–12 and 18–20 respectively; a pair of enlarged precloacal scales; hemipenis deeply forked and asymmetrical with two differently sized smooth lobes. The new species differs from its most similar congener, Sphenomorphus buenloicus Darevsky & Nguyen, 1983, by 16.4–16.7% uncorrected p-distance in COI sequences.

Source:  Sang Ngoc Nguyen, Luan Thanh Nguyen, Vu Dang Hoang Nguyen, Nikolai L Orlov and Robert W. Murphy. 2018.  A New Skink of the Genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Scincidae) from Hon Ba Nature Reserve, southern Vietnam. Zootaxa. 4438(2); 313–326

New frog is descibed in Son Tra Penninsula, Da Nang City, Central Vietnam

Rowley's Leaf-litter Frog (Leptobrachella rowleyae) is described recently in Son Tra Peninsula, Son Tra Nature Reserve, Da Nang City, Vietnam

This beautiful frog is a patrimony honouring Jodi J. L. Rowley, an amphibian biologist in Australian Museum (Sydney), who greatly contributed to the knowledge on Indochinese amphibians and the genus Leptolalax in particular, describing two-thirds of Indochinese species of Leptolalax.

The project is led by Nguyen Thanh Luan-a scientific officer of Asian Turtle Program of Indo-Myanmar Conservation under a cooperation between other international researchers. 

 

Leptobrachella rowlyae

Read more about this species: https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4388.1.1

Acanthosaura nataliae ORLOV, TRUONG & SANG, 2006

This species was described by Nikolai L. Orlov et al,. in 2005. 
A new agamid species from central Vietnam and Southern Laos is described. It is distinguished from A. armata, A. coronata, A. crucigera, and A. lepidogaster by lacking a spine on the occiput between the tympanum and nuchal crest. The new species differs from coronata and lepidogaster by having a large crest and from armata, crucigera, and lepidogaster by lacking a dark marking on the nape. It most closely resembles A. capra, but differs from it by having large keeled scales intermixed with small scales on the lateral and dorsal surface of body (scales relatively uniform incapra). Strong difference in coloration in live of adult males and females of compared species of genus Acanthosaura are described. [1]
In Bach Ma NP, I collected a specimen of this species at Tri Sao stream area (about 500m a.s.l) and a specimen at Do Quen stream area (about 1.450 m a.s.l). This species also common in Ba Na - Nui Chua Nature reserve.

 

Acanthosaura nataliae in Bach Ma National Park, Photographed by Luan Nguyen Thanh

Acanthosaura nataliae at Ba Na - Nui Chua NR, Photographed by Luan Nguyen Thanh

Literature cited 
1.        Orlov N. L., Truong Q.N., Sang V.N., 2005. A new Acanthosaura allied to A. capra Gunther, 1861 from central Vietnam and Southern Laos. Vol. 13 (1): 61 – 76.

Aguidae of Vietnam

Follow Uetz. 2014 and Nguyen et al,. 2009. One genus and five species of family Aguidae  were found in Vietnam. See list bellow:

1. Dopasia gracilis (GRAY, 1845)
2. Dopasia harti (BOULENGER, 1899)
3. Dopasia ludovici (MOCQUARD, 1905)
4. Dopasia sokolovi (DAREVSKY & NGUYEN-VAN-SANG, 1983
5. Dopasia hainanensis (Yang, 1983)

 Before 2011, the genus Ophisaurus was used for four species of Vietnam and some other species of East and Southeast Asian anguid species. After that, Nguyen et al, 2011 was fist record Ophisaurus hainanensis at Vietnam also used the generic name Dopasia for the Indochina subregion anguid species. [Nguyen et al,.2011]

Literature cited
Nguyen, V.S., Ho, T.C. & Nguyen, Q.T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.
Nguyen, Q.T., Bome, W., Tao, T.N., Quyet. K.L., Pahl. K.R.,  Haus. T., Ziegler. T., (2011) Review of the genus Dopasia Gray, 1853 (Squamata: Anguidae) in the Indochina subregion. Zootaxa2894: 58–68

Uetz, P. (2014) The Reptile Database, http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz, accessed in July, 2014.

Agamidae of Vietnam

 List species of the family Agamidae of Vietnam

1. Acanthosaura capra GÜNTHER, 1861
2. Acanthosaura cardamomensis WOOD, GRISMER, GRISMER, NEANG, CHAV & HOLDEN, 2010
3. Acanthosaura coronata GÜNTHER, 1861
4. Acanthosaura lepidogaster (CUVIER, 1829)
5. Acanthosaura nataliae ORLOV, TRUONG & SANG, 2006
6. Bronchocela orlovi HALLERMANN, 2004
7. Bronchocela smaragdina GÜNTHER, 1864
8. Bronchocela vietnamensis HALLERMANN & ORLOV, 2005
9. Calotes bachae HARTMANN, GEISSLER, POYARKOV, IHLOW, GALOYAN, RÖDDER & BÖHME, 2013
10. Calotes emma GRAY, 1845
11. Calotes mystaceus DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1837
12. Calotes versicolor (DAUDIN, 1802)
13. Draco blanfordii BLANFORD, 1878
14. Draco indochinensis SMITH, 1928
15. Draco maculatus (GRAY, 1845)
16. Draco taeniopterus GÜNTHER, 1861
17. Draco volans LINNAEUS, 1758
18. Gonocephalus grandis (GRAY, 1845)
19. Japalura chapaensis BOURRET, 1937
20. Japalura fasciata MERTENS, 1926
21. Leiolepis belliana (HARDWICKE & GRAY, 1827)
22. Leiolepis guentherpetersi DAREVSKY & KUPRIYANOVA, 1993
23. Leiolepis guttata CUVIER, 1829
24. Leiolepis ngovantrii GRISMER & GRISMER, 2010
25. Leiolepis reevesii (GRAY, 1831)
26. Leiolepis rubritaeniata MERTENS, 1961
27. Physignathus cocincinus CUVIER, 1829
28. Pseudocalotes brevipes (WERNER, 1904)
29. Pseudocalotes floweri (BOULENGER, 1912)
30. Pseudocalotes microlepis (BOULENGER, 1888)
31. Pseudocalotes ziegleri HALLERMANN, TRUONG, ORLOV & ANANJEVA, 2010
32. Pseudocophotis kontumensis ANANJEVA, ORLOV, TRUONG & NAZAROV, 2007

Literature cited
Nguyen, V.S., Ho, T.C. & Nguyen, Q.T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.
Uetz, P. (2014) The Reptile Database, http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz, accessed in July, 2014.