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| Pareas dulongjiangensis Liu, Yang, Rao, Guo & Rao, 2023 |
Abstract
A new species of Pareas Wagler, 1830 is described from Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China. Phylogenetically, the new species is most closely related to Pareas kaduri Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande, Patel and Mirza, 2020; however, the genetic divergence (uncorrected p-distance) of the cyt b gene between the new species and P. kaduri reached 9.4%. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from P. kaduri by the absence of preoculars, loreal bordering the orbit, the fusion of subocular and postocular, three rows enlarged vertebral scales, five rows keeled mid-dorsal scales at the middle of the body, having more subcaudals, and having a relatively longer tail. In addition, the new species can be distinguished from all other congeners by a combination of morphological characteristics. Our work brings the total number of recognized species of the genus Pareas to 29, of which 23 occur in China.
Keywords: cyt b; Dulongjiang; Gongshan; systematics; taxonomy
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| Pareas dulongjiangensis sp. nov., holotype in preservative. (A) Dorsal view of the body; (B) ventral view of the body; (C) close-up view of the dorsal side of the head; (D) close-up view of the left side of the head; (E) close-up view of the ventral side of the head. |
Class Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Order Squamata Oppel, 1811
Suborder Serpentes Linnaeus, 1758
Infraorder Caenophidia Hoffstetter, 1939
Family Pareidae Romer, 1956
Subfamily Pareinae Romer, 1956
Genus Pareas Wagler, 1830
Subgenus Eberhardtia Angel, 1920
Pareas dulongjiangensis sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Preocular absent; postocular fused with subocular; loreal bordering orbit; prefrontal bordering orbit; infralabials not fused with chin-shield; chin-shields three pairs, first pair triangular, second pair and third pair elongate; dorsal scales 15 rows throughout without apical pits; three rows vertebral scales enlarged; five rows mid-dorsal scales keeled at middle of body; supralabials6–7; infralabials7–9; precloacal plate undivided; ventral scales182; and subcaudals 76, paired. In preservative, dorsal surface of head chocolate brown, from which two brownish-black longitudinal stripes run on each side of the neck, leaving a pale central portion; lateral surface of head dense with brownish black dusting and two short brownish-black streaks, one on lower anterior temporal and another on last supralabial; almost no mottling on ventral surface of head; sparse brown mottling on ventral surfaces of body and tail; and indistinct vertical dark bars on trunk and tail.
Etymology. The specific epithet dulongjiangensis refers to the Dulongjiang Township, where the new species was discovered. We propose “Dulongjiang Slug-eating Snake” for the common English name and “独龙江钝头蛇” (Pinyin: dú lóng jiāng dùn tóu shé) for the common Chinese name of this species.
Distribution. The new species is currently known only from its type locality in Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Nujiang Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China.
Shuo Liu, Mingjing Yang, Jingqiu Rao,Yuhong Guo and Dingqi Rao. 2023. A New Species of Pareas Wagler, 1830 (Squamata, Pareidae) from Northwestern Yunnan, China. Taxonomy. 3(2); 169-182. DOI: 10.3390/taxonomy3020013
Researchgate.net/publication/369692685_A_New_Species_of_Pareas_from_Yunnan_China
