Manh VAN LE

A new wolf snake, genus Dinodon, from the Langbian Plateau of Vietnam is described based on morphological data and nucleotide sequences from mitochondrial genes COI and Cytb. Dinodon orlovi sp. nov. is diagnosed by the following morphological characters: medium-sized wolf snake (largest snout–vent length 668 mm in adult female); dorsal scale rows 17-17-15, keeled at midbody and posterior part; ventrals 209–212 in males and 213–217 in females; subcaudals 76 in males and 70 in female; supralabials 8, third to fifth entering orbit; maxillary teeth 13, formula 7-3-3; hemipenis unforked, reaching 11th–13th subcaudal, with spinulate calyces at distal part and enlarged curved spines at middle part; cloacal plate single; head bicolor, viz. black anteriorly and white posteriorly; light cross-bands 17–23 on body and 11–13 on tail. The new species differs from its congeners by an uncorrected p-distance in COI and Cytb sequences of at least 4.4% and 3.3%, respectively.

We describe a new species of wolf snake, genus Dinodon, from Lam Dong Province, southern Vietnam, based on morphological characters and molecular evidence from mitochondrial COI, Cytb, and 16S. Dinodon nuiongensis sp. nov. is diagnosed by the following combination of morphological features: a medium-sized species, reaching up to 630 mm in total length; 8 or 9 supralabials, with the third to fifth contacting the eye; 10 infralabials; a single loreal contacting the eye; 11 maxillary teeth; dorsal scale rows 17-17-15, with 7–11 keeled rows at neck and 9–11 at midbody; 210 or 211 ventrals; cloacal plate single; 74–82 paired subcaudals; hemipenis unforked, extending to the 8th or 9th subcaudal, with distal spinulate calyces, enlarged curved spines at middle part, and single sulcus spermaticus; and 19–23 and 11–14 cross-bands on the body and tail, respectively. The new species differs from its congeners by uncorrected p-distances of at least 8.9% for COI, 8.7% for Cytb, and 1.0% for 16S.

We describe a new keelback snake of the genus Hebius from the Ngoc Linh Mountain Range, Central Highlands, Vietnam, based on morphological characters and molecular evidence (Cytb). Hebius ngoclinhensis sp. nov. is diagnosed by the following combination of morphological features: dorsal scale rows 19-19-17; first dorsal scale row smooth; ventrals 143–148; subcaudals 95–97, paired; two preoculars; two or three postoculars; one loreal; eight or nine supralabials; ten infralabials; cloacal plate divided; maxillary teeth 24–26, gradually enlarged, with two distinctly enlarged teeth posteriorly; 17 keeled dorsal scale rows at midbody; dorsal surface of body and tail dark brown with numerous irregular dark yellow spots; a distinct reddish-brown dorsolateral stripe on the 4th–7th dorsal scale rows on each side; ventral surface of body and tail reddish-orange to orange; and lateral margins of ventrals and subcaudals dark brown. In addition, the new species differs from its congeners by an uncorrected p-distance in Cytb sequences of at least 9.3%.

Species discovery within Odorrana has gradually increased over the years, establishing a remarkable diversity for the genus. During recent herpetological surveys, we collected specimens from Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China with additional samples from Thailand and Vietnam. Based on combined morphological and phylogenetic analyses, we describe a new species Odorrana sudianensis sp. nov. from Sudian Town, Yingjiang County, China and report new records of O. heatwolei for Thailand and Vietnam. Phylogenetic analyses, based on the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene fragment, confirm the new species as a distinct evolutionary lineage with a genetic divergence ( p -distance) of 4.6% from its closest sister species O. dulongensis . Odorrana sudianensis sp. nov. is morphologically distinguishable from all its known congeners by having a robust medium adult body size, a head length longer than wide, a mottled grass-green dorsum with dark brown blotches on the posterior region, absence of dorsolateral folds and circum-marginal grooves for all finger discs expanded with lateroventral grooves. Additionally, the new species record sequences from Thailand and Vietnam nested within the O. heatwolei subclade with a low p -distance (0.0–0.5%) from topotypic sequences of O. heatwolei . Examined specimen shows morphological congruence with topotypic O. heatwolei in key diagnostic traits. Our new species and new species records increase the number of recognised species of Odorrana to 46 in China, seven in Thailand and 23 in Vietnam. We also address existing taxonomic disputes within Odorrana and provide comments and recommendations on the taxonomy of several species within the genus.

Two new skinks of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950, from Khanh Hoa and Binh Thuan provinces, southern Vietnam, are described based on differences in morphology and nucleotide sequences. Scincella honbaensis sp. nov. is diagnosed by the following morphological characters: 28 smooth midbody scale rows; dorsal scales enlarged, six rows on back; 64 paravertebrals; 74 ventral scale rows; prefrontals in broad contact with one another; one anterior and two posterior enlarged temporals; three pairs of nuchals; 21 smooth lamellae beneath toe IV; dorsum with two longitudinal rows of black dots. Scincella auranticaudata sp. nov. is diagnosed by the following morphological characters: 34–36 smooth midbody scale rows; dorsal scales not enlarged, ½+8+½ rows on back; 67–74 paravertebrals; 65–69 ventral scale rows; prefrontals separated from or just in contact with one another; two anterior and two posterior enlarged temporals; one pairs of nuchals; 17–20 smooth lamellae beneath toe IV; hemipenis smooth, forked near the base with two long symmetrical lobes; dorsum with a vertebral line formed by large black spots. Scincella honbaensis and Scincella auranticaudata differ from their congeners by an uncorrected p-distance in COI sequences of at least 16.7% and 9.4%, respectively.

We describe a new frog of the genus Limnonectes from the Langbian Plateau in southern Vietnam based on morphological and molecular analyses. Limnonectes splendissimus sp. nov. shares morphological characteristics similar to L. poilani from central Vietnam yet is distinguishable from its congeners based on the following combination of diagnostic characters: large body-size (SVL 104.1–107.0 mm in three adult males, 87.2–97.7 mm in two adult females); head length longer than wide (HW/HL = 0.91±0.01 in adult males, 0.87±0.08 in adult females); adult males having an enlarged head height and a nuptial pad on finger I; eye diameter about three-fifths of tympanum-eye distance in adult males (ED/TED = 0.62±0.13) and longer than tympanum-eye distance in adult females (ED/TED = 1.40±0.02); distinct tympanum; presence of vomerine teeth; a tendency for a more prominent odontoid height (OH 8.0 ± 0.6 mm in adult males, 4.5±0.9 mm in adult females); throat surface in juveniles very distinct with black and white pattern that covers both the throat and anterior half of venter, and latter half of venter yellow. Phylogenetic analyses place the new species as the sister species of L. poilani. The new species differs from its congeners by an uncorrected p-distances in 16S sequences ranging from 8.2% (vs. L. poilani) to 14.6% (vs. L. dabanus).

Homalopsid snakes of the genus Myrrophis include only two species distributed in southern China and northern Vietnam. Here, we describe a third species from southern Vietnam based on morphological data and nucleotide sequences from the mitochondrial gene cyt b. Myrrophis dakkrongensis sp. nov. is diagnosed by the following morphological characters: Medium-sized mud snake (largest total length 452 mm); internasal single and distinctly separated from loreals; dorsal scales smooth, in 23 rows at midbody, reduced to 19 or 20 rows before vent; ventrals 133–138; subcaudals 34–42, paired; cloacal plate divided; supralabials 8, fourth entering orbit; second pair of chin-shields small and oblique; maxillary teeth 17 or 18; gland-like tubercles present in the cloacal region; hemipenis short, forked and spinose, reaching 7th subcaudal; dorsum dark brown to black; and a white or yellow to orange lateroventral stripe present. The new species differs from its congeners by an uncorrected p distance in cyt b sequences of at least 10.5%.

A new species of the genus Vietnamophryne is described from Vietnam on the basis of two specimens collected from Tuyen Quang Province, Northeastern Vietnam. The new species is morphologically most similar to Vietnamophryne occidentalis from Thailand, however, it differs from the latter by having large black blotches in the lower jaw region, and a yellow-orange chest and belly. The genetic distance between the new species and other Vietnamophryne taxa is > 2.13% (16S mtDNA gene fragment). Vietnamophryne aurantifusca sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other species of Vietnamophryne by a combination of the following morphological characteristics: Size medium (SVL 17.6–18.2 mm in males); head wider than long; tympanum medium; finger I longer than half of finger II; dorsal skin relatively smooth with some round nodules, concentrated in the middle of the back, arranged along the length of the back, with a prominent ridge along the spine; Dorsum orangish-brown entirely and paler on margin of back with a small brownish ridge along the spine; sides brownish with creamy patches and orange spots; ventral surface orange, with grey marbling, most intense on the throat, ventral side of arms and thighs, and ventral surfaces of limbs dark grey with some orange spots.

Multi-label image classification aims to identify all object labels within an image. Small objects and similar objects are still the primary difficulties of previous related models due to the representative capacity of convolutional kernels. Recent vision transformer networks employ the attention mechanism to extract the spatial feature, which expresses richer local semantic information but is insufficient for creating high performance in fine-grained or small-object scenarios. To overcome these disadvantages, this paper proposes a solution by using the definition of the label as text embedding and adjusting the modification of the decoder stage so the model can acquire more information. The new framework is simple, efficient, and consistently outperforms all preceding works on the FATHOMNET, FAIR1M, and DOTA datasets.

We describe a new species of Dendrelaphis from the coastal area in southern Vietnam based on morphological data and nucleotide sequences from one partial mitochondrial gene (Cytb). Dendrelaphis binhi sp. nov. is diagnosed by the following morphological characters: body scale rows 13 at neck and midbody, 9–11 before vent; vertebral scale row feebly enlarged; ventrals 154–158 in males and 161–170 in females; subcaudals 95–106 in males and 95–102 in females; one supralabial touching the eye; 18 or 19 maxillary teeth; hemipenis spinose, reaching 10th or 11th SC, with a slender papilla; cloacal plate divided; dorsum dark brown; and a white stripe along the lower flank. The new species differs from its congeners by an uncorrected p-distance in Cytb sequences of at least 8.1%.