Scientific workflow management systems offer features for composing complex computational pipelines from modular building blocks, for executing the resulting automated workflows, and for recording the provenance of data products resulting from workflow runs. Despite the advantages such features provide, many automated workflows continue to be implemented and executed outside of scientific workflow systems due to the convenience and familiarity of scripting languages (such as Perl, Python, R, and MATLAB), and to the high productivity many scientists experience when using these languages. YesWorkflow is a set of software tools that aim to provide such users of scripting languages with many of the benefits of scientific workflow systems. YesWorkflow requires neither the use of a workflow engine nor the overhead of adapting code to run effectively in such a system. Instead, YesWorkflow enables scientists to annotate existing scripts with special comments that reveal the computational modules and dataflows otherwise implicit in these scripts. YesWorkflow tools extract and analyze these comments, represent the scripts in terms of entities based on the typical scientific workflow model, and provide graphical renderings of this workflow-like view of the scripts. Future versions of YesWorkflow also will allow the prospective provenance of the data products of these scripts to be queried in ways similar to those available to users of scientific workflow systems.

Patterns of genetic relationship and taxonomic identity are examined in Thorius, an enigmatic genus of minute neotropical salamanders that represent the smallest tailed tetrapods. Data comprise an electrophoretic analysis of 16 protein loci in 69 population samples from 55 localities throughout the range of the genus in southern Mexico. Eight of the nine described species are genetically distinct: Nei's D commonly exceeds 0.9. There is no biochemical evidence of more than a single species at Zoquitlan, Pue., type locality of T. schmidti and T. maxillabrochus. Genetic differentiation between disjunct subspecies of T. pennatulus is less than the mean pairwise value between described species, but exceeds that observed between some sympatric species pairs. Seven additional as yet undescribed species are identified, based either on their sympatric occurrence with, or great genetic differentiation from, described species. Most species initially identified by electrophoresis are morphologically distinct. Electrophoretic data fail to resolve the taxonomic affinity of a few remaining populations, although they do provide clearcut and distinguishable hypotheses of relationship that can be tested using other sources, such as morphology. The 15 species constitute three faunal units: Veracruz and eastern Puebla; Sierra de Juarez, Oaxaca; southern and western Oaxaca, and Guerrero. Local endemism is observed within each region, in which sympatry involving two or three species is common. Species frequently demonstrate narrow elevational zonation and distinct habitat and microhabitat preference (e.g., arboreal vs terrestrial). The distribution of four species on Cerro Pelon, Oax., is examined in detail.

A new species of Asian warty newt, Paramesotriton ermizhaoi, is described from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. This species is easily distinguished from other congeners by external morphology and osteology. Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial data place P. ermizhaoi as a possible sister taxon to P. hongkongensis and P. chinensis. The number of trunk vertebrae varies from 12 to 13 in the new species. The relationship between P. ermizhaoi and a potentially new Pachytriton species (Pachytriton C), and the Guangxi population of P. chinensis is briefly discussed.

Phylogenetic relationships among foam-nesting clades of Old World tree frogs are analyzed using both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA data, with particular focus on Sri Lankan members of the genus Polypedates. A distinctive, highly supported endemic Sri Lankan clade is identified, and recognized as a new genus, Taruga. This clade, which had previously been assigned to the genus Polypedates, includes P. eques, P. fastigo and P. longinasus. A combination of characters distinguishes adult Taruga from Polypedates: Taruga possess a dorsolateral glandular fold that extends from the posterior margin of the upper eyelid to the mid-flank (vs. a supratympanic fold that curves over the dorsal margin of the tympanic membrane in Polypedates); a prominent calcar at the distal end of the tibia (absent in most Polypedates); a more acutely pointed snout; and 6-10 prominent conical tubercles surrounding the cloaca (absent in Polypedates). Tadpoles of Taruga eques and Polypedates cruciger are distinguished by several characters, including features of the buccal cavity and the form of the vent tube. Taruga is the sister group of the remaining Polypedates sensu stricto.

We describe through integrative taxonomy a new species of snouted treefrog of the genus Scinax from white-sand forests of the Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve in Central Amazonia, Brazil. The new species is phylogenetically related to other Scinax with striped eyes and pulsed advertisement calls. It differs from other Amazonian species mainly by having snout-vent length 21.6-25.4 mm (n¼11) in adult males and 24.8-27.0 mm (n¼9) in females, snout subacuminate in dorsal view, a dark brown lateral stripe on each flank (fading posteriorly), brown tadpoles with labial keratodont row formula 2(2)/3 and keratodont row P-2 longer than P-1 and P-3, and an advertisement call consisting of a single pulsed note with a call duration of 502-652 ms, 79-105 pulses/note and a dominant frequency of 3,811-4,543 Hz. The new species clusters within a major, well-supported phylogenetic clade grouping several candidate and recently described species as well as species previously included in the former Scinax staufferi species group (viz., S. cruentomma, S. fuscomarginatus, S. staufferi, and S. wandae). The phylogenetic relationships and structural pattern in the advertisement calls of these species highlight the need for a redefinition and reevaluation of the monophyly of the S. staufferi species group.