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The Marojejy Massif in northern Madagascar is a constant source of herpetological surprises. Herein we describe a new species of leaf-mimicking leaf-tailed gecko, Uroplatus finaritra sp. nov., based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence. This new species inhabits the rainforests of Marojejy National Park at low elevations and is morphologically similar to Uroplatus phantasticus, but differs by having a larger body size, relatively shorter tail, and dark-red pigmentation of the oral mucosa. Molecular data reveals a distance of 14.0–14.7% in the 16S rRNA gene to U. phantasticus, and haplotype sharing in the c-mos nuclear gene only with species of much shorter tails (i.e., with U. kelirambo and two undescribed candidate species). Similar to other members of the leaf-mimicking Uroplatus species in northern Madagascar, Uroplatus finaritra sp. nov. likely has a small geographic distribution, and is currently known only from the lowland rainforests of Marojejy. We discuss the value of the buccal mucosa colouration and tail dimensions of Uroplatus as taxonomic characters, and the potential drivers of their evolution. In order to reduce the risk of international trade under incorrect species names we suggest that exported CITES species should be obligatorily accompanied by information about their precide geographic origin within Madagascar.

Madagascar hosts a high diversity of small brown frogs. In this paper, we add another one by describing Gephyromantis (Duboimantis) tohatra sp. nov. The new species is a small brown mantellid frog discovered on a recent expedition to Marojejy National Park in northeastern Madagascar. It is characterised, among other things, by its small size (snout-vent length ~33 mm), an orange to yellowish belly, two dorsolateral ridges, and a distinctive call composed of 7-10 pulsed notes. The new species occurs sympatrically with other members of the subgenus Duboimantis at high altitude (~1700 m above sea level), including its sister species G. schilfi from which it radically differs by advertisement call and by a substantial genetic divergence of 4.3% uncorrected pairwise distance in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. It thus joins the diverse assemblage of Gephyromantis species known from high altitudes on the mountain massifs of northern Madagascar.

We describe a new species of the genus Gephyromantis, subgenus Vatomantis (Mantellidae, Mantellinae), from moderately high elevation (1164-1394 m a.s.l.) on the Marojejy, Sorata, and Andravory Massifs in northern Madagascar. The new species, Gephyromantis (Vatomantis) lomorina sp. n. is highly distinct from all other species, and was immediately recognisable as an undescribed taxon upon its discovery. It is characterised by a granular, mottled black and green skin, reddish eyes, paired subgular vocal sacs of partly white colour, bulbous femoral glands present only in males and consisting of three large granules, white ventral spotting, and a unique, amplitude-modulated advertisement call consisting of a series of 24-29 rapid, quiet notes at a dominant frequency of 5124-5512 Hz. Genetically the species is also strongly distinct from its congeners, with uncorrected pairwise distances ≥10 % in a fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene to all other nominal Gephyromantis species. A molecular phylogeny based on 16S sequences places it in a clade with species of the subgenera Laurentomantis and Vatomantis, and we assign it to the latter subgenus based on its morphological resemblance to members of Vatomantis. We discuss the biogeography of reptiles and amphibians across the massifs of northern Madagascar, the evidence for a strong link between Marojejy and Sorata, and the role of elevation in determining community sharing across this landscape.

The stump-toed frogs of the Madagascar-endemic genus Stumpffia are mostly diminutive in size, but there is one group of comparatively large frogs within the genus, which we herein refer to as the Stumpffia hara species group. Each of the four known members of this species group is endemic to a single location of deciduous dry forest with exposed karstic limestone rock. Here, we report on the discovery of members of this species group on Montagne d’Ambre, a rainforest-covered extinct volcano in the North of Madagascar that has a rich Stumpffia fauna but has been thought to lack members of the S. hara species group until now. We found two members of the species group, one at the peak, and one in transitional and dry deciduous forest on the west and northern slopes of the mountain. The high-elevation species is new to science, and we here describe it as Stumpffia bishopisp. nov. It occupies a highly distinct position in the phylogeny of these frogs, characterized by ≥ 9.8% uncorrected pairwise distance from all other nominal Stumpffia in a fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. It is also the smallest of the members of the S. hara species group. Our genetic results show that the low-elevation species is Stumpffia megsoni, constituting a range expansion of that species and considerably expanding our understanding of its morphology and ecology. We report its advertisement call for the first time. Our results highlight the importance of continued surveys of even well-sampled localities, with special attention on the high elevation sites of northern massifs and collection of voucher specimens, and how much there still remains to understand about even the largest of Madagascar’s small frogs.