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| Pareas tigerinus Liu, Zhang, Poyarkov, Hou, Wu, Rao, Nguyen & Vogel, 2023 Photos by S. Liu. |
ABSTRACT
Based on molecular and morphological data of four specimens of Pareas Wagler, 1830 collected from the type locality of P. yunnanensis (Vogt, 1922), along with examination of the type specimens of P. yunnanensis, we revalidate this poorly known, secretive species. Furthermore, based on molecular and morphological lines of evidence we also describe a new species of Pareas from Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Morphologically, the new species closely resembles its sister species P. nigriceps Guo & Deng, 2009. However, the new species is divergent from the latter in cytochrome b mtDNA gene sequences, and can be distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of morphological characteristics: single preocular, postocular fused with subocular, loreal not bordering orbit, vertebral scales enlarged, 3–5 rows of mid-dorsal scales keeled at the middle of the body, ventral scales 160–171; subcaudals 62–64, dorsal surface of head solid black or reddish-brown, dark nuchal band present, iris brownish-black or reddish-brown.
Keywords: Dali, Menghai, slug-eating snakes, synonymy, taxonomy
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| Pareas tigerinus sp. nov. in life. A. Holotype, ♀ (KIZ 20210705). B. Paratype, ♂ (KIZ 20210703) C. Paratype, ♀ (KIZ 20210704) . D. Habitat at the type locality. Photos by S. Liu. |
Pareas (Eberhardtia) tigerinus sp. nov.
Diagnosis: This species differs from Pareas nigriceps by having a relatively shorter tail, more infralabials, fewer ventral scales, fewer subcaudals, and fewer maxillary teeth; it differs from P. kaduri Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande, Patel & Mirza, 2020 by having relatively smaller body size, keeled mid-dorsal scales in females, fewer temporals, and fewer maxillary teeth.
Etymology: The species epithet “tigerinus” is attributed to this species due to the similarity of the species colour pattern to the prominent lateral stripes in tigers. We propose “Tiger Slug-eating Snake” for the common English name and “虎纹钝头蛇”(Hǔ Wén Dùn Tóu Shé) for the common Chinese name.
Shuo Liu, Dongru Zhang, Nikolay A. Poyarkov, Mian Hou, Li Wu, Dingqi Rao, Tan Van Nguyen and Gernot Vogel. 2023. Resurrection of Pareas yunnanensis (Vogt, 1922) with Description of A New Species of Pareas from Yunnan Province, China (Squamata, Pareidae). European Journal of Taxonomy. 860: 1–26. DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.860.2045
