In regular English, the term 'devil', when not applied specifically to Satan, is essentially synonymous with 'demon'. Whereas the word 'demon' originally had a more benign meaning, 'devil' has always meant an evil entity, and now typically means one that is specifically part of the Christian mythos even if the general concept exists in other religions, too. In D&D, however, devils are distinct from demons, making up the organised legions of Hell rather than being rampaging creatures of malevolent chaos. In 1E, six main types exist, although other common ones have been added since, all fitting within a defined hierarchy where weaker devils can (with difficulty) be promoted to higher ranks at the whims of those even higher up the chain. Compared with the demons, these six standard types are more likely to owe their origins to myth or at least to traditional depictions of such beings, rather than just being odd combinations of animal parts.
Barbed Devils
In 1E, erinyes are the weakest of the standard devils, with the second rank being filled by the barbed devils. These are thematically similar to some medieval depictions of devils, although perhaps not imitating anything in particular. They are humanoid in shape, with a high almost conical head with bat-like ears, tusk-like fangs, and horns projecting straight forward from the forehead (useful when wrestling, perhaps, but not much at other times - but then, they aren't the product of natural evolution). Thorn-like barbs, composed of either horn or bone, project from the shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and spine as well as the top and back of the head. The long tail has many more barbs on it, and the body appears scaly. The 2E version looks pretty much the same, although we can now see the clawed feet as well. They gain the name "hamatula" as an alternative to the descriptive term, presumably from the Latin hamus meaning "hook".
Unusually, the 3E and 5E Monster Manuals use the same image, which shows a slightly different creature. The horns have gone and the head is less conical. There are many more barbs on the head and arms, and they are much thinner and more elongated, suggesting hard keratinous spines rather than bony projections. The tail is longer and more muscular, which makes sense for what's likely its primary natural weapon. It clearly lacks external genitals, for which it would have no obvious use.
Initially, barbed devils are clearly one rank higher than the erinyes. They have two extra points of armour, a slightly greater ability to take injury, improved combat skills and a 5% greater resistance to magic. Their intelligence is also a couple of points higher, placing them just above the human average. They are initially said to be often seen in squads, but even by 2E, they are more likely to be solitary. In 3E they leapfrog the bone devils to become the most powerful of the "lesser" devils, with corresponding increases in just about all of their traits except intelligence. With 5E, it's back down again, now one of the weakest of all regular devils; it loses most of its magical powers in the process, but, in fairness, that's true of its more powerful counterparts, too.
Bone Devils
Bone devils may be inspired by images of the Grim Reaper, although they aren't truly skeletons. In 1E they appear as emaciated humans with hairless skull-like heads lacking external ears or noses, long canine teeth and elongated toes. More significantly, they have a large scorpion-like tail and a single pair of insect-like wings - although they require magic to fly, being unable to do so naturally. At this point, they have one extra point of armour, one extra hit dice, and another 5% of magical resistance, compared with the barbed devils, confirming their higher rank, although they are no more intelligent.
Unlike the barbed devils, they change appearance in 2E, when they become "osyluth" from the Latin os for "bone". Their body is similarly emaciated, but they have projecting vertebral spines on their back, pupilless eyes and long, if sparse, hair. They have lost the fangs and, more importantly, the wings, but their scorpion-like sting now actually delivers poison. They have also become weaker, falling behind the barbed devils, where they will remain in 3E. The version in that edition has digitigrade feet, rather than human-like ones, spurs on the knees and elbows and a notably enlarged head, once again lacking the hair. The tail is also narrower, segmented, and ends in a bulbous swelling with ragged barbs rather than the simple stinger of a true scorpion. They seem to have abandoned the special hooked bone weapons that were their only effective means of combat in 1E.
5E keeps the digitigrade legs and the bony spurs on the joints, but the neck is much longer and the head no longer resembles a human skull, with reptilian teeth, tiny deep-set eyes and numerous spiny projections. The tail is longer and thinner, with what's clearly now a vertebrate structure rather than an arachnid one, and multiple long barbs on the sting. It also has its insect wings back, and can even use them to fly naturally, although this time it has two pairs instead of one. It's now back above the barbed devil in power again, and is the highest-ranking of the "lesser" devils, as it was in 1E.
One oddity of the bone devil in 1E is that we're told it can see in the ultraviolet spectrum. How much use this would be is debatable, at least in a terrestrial (rather than infernal) environment. Certainly, there are real-world animals that can see UV light, although most mammals cannot because the lens of the eye blocks it out and prevents it from reaching the retina. But all this enables them to do is see colours, and some forms of fluorescence, that we cannot - the world looks different, but there's no more ultraviolet around at night or underground than there is visible light, so it's not obvious what the bone devil is supposed to gain by seeing it. By 3E, however, this power has gone, to be replaced by regular darkvision.
Horned Devils
Horned devils are explicitly based on the Malebranche, devils that torment sinners in the Eighth Circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno - the only "race" of devil specifically described in that work, with Greek monsters and unique individuals otherwise taking their place. In 1E, moved up to the sixth and seventh levels of Hell, they are scaly humanoids with many classical diabolic features - bat wings, tails ending in a spear-like point, horns, bat-wings, and tusks in the lower jaw. They are physically weaker than the lesser devils that they outrank, but much harder to injure, even with magical weaponry or combat spells. They are also more intelligent than the lesser devils and are presumably intended to use guile and magic in preference to hitting people with their pitchforks. They can, however, stab with their tails, leaving a wound that can't close up and that seemingly delivers an anticoagulant that means the victim will eventually bleed to death without treatment.
In 2E, the scales are more spiny and serrated and the legs are at least partially digitigrade. The tail has lost the terminal spear-point but is apparently just as capable of delivering injury, perhaps by being used as a whip. The old name of "malebranche" isn't mentioned (probably for the same reason that devils are now "baatezu") and they are instead "cornugons" from the Latin cornu for "horn". This look is broadly retained in 3E, although the individual shown may be a different colour. As in 2E, they are clearly more physically powerful than the lesser devils, and they have moved from having strength equivalent to the maximum human possible in 2E to the equivalent of a fire giant.
The name switches back to "malebranche" in 5E and, while they are hairless, they do not appear notably scaly any more. The tail has its terminal spike back and delivers a much nastier wound than before, perhaps by stabbing deeper into major blood vessels. The wings and primary horns are larger, with the latter having a smaller set of horns beneath them - both pairs appear decorative rather than anything else but, again this isn't supposed to be a natural creature. The feet are somewhat unusual, with just two clawed toes, resembling those of an ostrich more than anything else - it's notable that they cannot move quickly except when flying, suggesting the legs may not be very strong. As with other devils (except possibly erinyes) they lack any evident genitalia. Their overall strength remains superhuman, but only to hill giant levels, and their intelligence is down to just over the human norm.
Ice Devils
Ice devils are the second most powerful of the devils, a position they hold consistently through the editions. They seem to be an original creation, although the frozen eighth plane of Hell that they inhabit is likely based on the ninth circle in Dante's Inferno. Initially, they have a mix of humanoid and insectile features. Their overall body has a humanoid shape, with bird-like legs and a long, possibly reptilian tail studded with thorny spines. The latter are most likely embedded in the skin rather than projections of the internal skeleton, given their layout, although it's hard to know with something that's demonic, rather than natural. The torso, and possibly the arms, have an exoskeleton of some kind, but retain the humanoid appearance, while the head vaguely resembles that of a mantis, with large laterally positioned compound eyes, short antennae and large mandibles.
With 2E, they gain the name "gelugon", probably from the Latin gelatus, meaning "frozen". They are more intelligent than before, being close to the human maximum, rather than slightly above average. Their appearance shifts to a more insectile one. Although the overall shape remains similar, including the bird-like legs and reptilian tail, the exoskeleton is more extensive and sculpted and the hips are placed near what would be the base of the thorax, rather than further down on the abdomen, as they would be in a bipedal vertebrate. The head closely resembles that of a wasp, including what look like three ocelli on the forehead. This may imply a more arthropod-like internal anatomy, but not necessarily, and the shape of the body might indicate that it has some internal skeleton as well as the armoured outer one, with at least some other vertebrate-like organs to match.
The appearance in 3E is very similar (although the ocelli aren't in evidence) although such features as intelligence and natural armour are greatly increased, in line with some of the other devils. The body in 5E is much sleeker, with a less pronounced abdomen, more muscular arms, and feet with stubby claws and covered by the exoskeleton, rather than being birdlike. The head has also changed again, regaining the bulging compound eyes of 1E but narrower and with a mouth that's no longer insectile. Instead, although there are large gripping mandibles to either side the palps of the earlier editions have gone and the mouth itself seems to open in the vertebrate style and features a number of needle-like teeth. The exoskeleton, previously supernaturally tough in all prior editions, is now equivalent to regular steel plate, and the intelligence is back down to the 2E level.
Like the bone devils, ice devils can see in ultraviolet light in 1E, although this is later replaced by regular darkvision. They are intensely cold, although prior to 5E, all this does is numb anyone who touches them rather than inflicting instant frostbite as it does later.
Pit Fiends
The pit fiends are the most powerful of all the devils, and, being large winged, horned, and red-skinned humanoids, are strongly reminiscent of their balor counterparts among the demons. In 1E, they have bulky bodies with hug bat-like wings bearing barbed claws on their thumbs, and also have bat-like ears, along with a bulbous nose, sabre-like canine teeth in the upper jaw, and a prehensile tail. Although bulkier, their chest and abdomen appear human-like, and they even have a navel despite the fact that they will be formed as adults. (It's doubtless all part of the look, which they may well be able to customise at their level of power). On the other hand, despite being as tall as stone giants, and considerably more muscular looking, they are not as physically strong.
The 2E version has much longer horns - although there's no indication that they can effectively fight them, so they're still more decorative than anything else. There doesn't seem to be a nose at all; it either breathes through it's mouth or perhaps doesn't breathe at all. The sabre-like canines have gone, with the wide mouth full of multiple rows of needle-like teeth. The one in 3E has chosen a look much closer to the 1E version, but with reptilian scaly skin now, rather than an apparently mammalian torso to go with the wings. Among other improvements, its strength has rocketed; although it's no larger than before, it's now higher than that of all but the storm giants.
That drops a little - to just below cloud giant levels - in 5E, and the look changes again, to one that includes larger scutes on the limbs and tail rather than regular scales. The teeth are also reptilian, without either the enlarged canines of 1E and 3E or the multiple rows of 2E, and the horns are swept backwards. It's perhaps in this edition that it most closely resembles the balor, being distinguished by a reptilian, rather than mammalian, look, horns with a different orientation, and, of course, the tail. If they can really choose the details of their look, it may be only the last of these that's a reliable way of distinguishing them from a distance.
Note: As I write this, we are a few weeks away from the release of what's effectively an updated Monster Manual for 5E (although it has a different title). I assume that this will have new art, and we know that some of the creatures' abilities have been tweaked. However, I will stick to the existing format of analysing the entries in the official core books only, not least because I'm about three-quarters of the way through the monsters on my list now, and it seems a bit late to add more detail to the entries.
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