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| Pseudocalotes jingpo Xu, Gong, Hou, Weng, Liu, Deng, Hu & Peng, 2024 |
Abstract
In this study, a new species of the genus Pseudocalotes is described from Yingjiang County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China, based on four female specimens. It can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) interoculabials 3 or 4; (2) canthals 5–7; (3) cicrcumorbitals 8–11; (4) 1 scale between rostral and nasal; (5) interparietal 1; (6) superciliaries 4–6; (7) supralabials 6–7, the 1st in contact with the nasal; (8) infralabials 6–8; (9) transverse gular fold and antehumeral fold present; (10) 2–3 enlarged scales between eye and ear; (11) nuchal crest single, consists of 3–5 erected spines; (12) dorsal crest row single, discontinuous and low, located between two keeled, parallel and enlarged scale rows; (13) enlarged postrictals absent; (14) scales around midbody 53–62, dorsal body scales heterogenous in size and shape; (15) midventrals smaller than dorsals; (16) subdigital scales on the 4th finger 20–26, and on the 4th toe 24–29; (17) dorsal background coloration light taupe with four irregular brown patches along the middle of dorsal; (18) inner lips wathet, tongue aurantiacus, throat bluish black. The population from Yingjiang County was nested within a highly supported lineage, formed a sister taxon with P. kakhienensis (SH 97/UFB 100) and according to the p-distance, the new species differed from its congeners by 14.5% to 35.2% for NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) and 15.5% to 25.0% for NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4).
Keywords: Pseudocalotes jingpo sp. nov.; molecular systematics; morphological characters; taxonomy; lizard
Squamata; Iguania;
Agamidae; Draconinae;
Pseudocalotes;
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| Dorsal view (A1) and ventral view (B1) of the holotype of Pseudocalotes jingpo sp. nov. (QHU2024002) in life. Scale bars: = 15 mm. |
Pseudocalotes jingpo sp. nov. XU, GONG, HOU, WENG, LIU, DENG, Hu, and PENG
Diagnosis: Pseudocalotes jingpo sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners in the genus Pseudocalotes by the following combination of characters: (1) interoculabials 3 or 4; (2) canthals 5–7; (3) cicrcumorbitals 8–11; (4) 1 scale between the rostral and nasal; (5) interparietal 1; (6) superciliaries 4–6; (7) supralabials 6–7, the 1st in contact with the nasal; (8) infralabials 6–8; (9) transverse gular fold and antehumeral fold present; (10) 2–3 enlarged scales between the eye and ear; (11) nuchal crest single, consists of 3–5 erected spines; (12) dorsal crest row single, discontinuous and low, located between two keeled, parallel and enlarged scale rows; (13) enlarged postrictals absent; (14) scales around the midbody 53–62, dorsal body scales heterogenous in size and shape; (15) midventrals smaller than the dorsals; (16) subdigital scales on the 4th finger 20–26, and on the 4th toe 24–29; (17) dorsal background coloration light taupe with four irregular brown patches along the middle of dorsal; (18) inner lips wathet, tongue aurantiacus, throat bluish black.
Etymology: The specific epithet, Pseudocalotes jingpo sp. nov., is a Latinized noun in apposition, and is invariable, based on the distribution of this new species being similar to one of the minorities in China, the Jingpo Ethnic Group, which inhabit the mountain regions in southwest China, and the type locality Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture is also the concentrated area of the Jingpo Ethnic Group in China. We suggest Jǐng Pō Nǐ Shù Xī (景颇拟树蜥) as a Chinese common name and Jingpo False Garden Lizard as an English common name.
Distribution and Habitat: At present, this new species is only found at the type locality of Yingjiang County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. We found the lizards on a clear day in the bushes by the roadside, with an air temperature of about 20 °C. The habitat environment was well-preserved tropical montane rainforest, at the elevation of approximately 1000 m.
Yuhao Xu, Yanan Gong, Mian Hou, Shiyang Weng, Shuo Liu, Jundong Deng, Junkang Hu and Lifang Peng. 2024. A New Species of the Genus Pseudocalotes (Squamata: Agamidae) from Southwest Yunnan, China. Animals. 14(6); 826. DOI: 10.3390/ani14060826
Simple Summary: In this study, a new species of the genus Pseudocalotes is described from Yingjiang County, Dehong Dai, and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China, based on four female specimens. Phylogenetic analyses based on NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) indicated that the new taxon is different from its congeners. Morphologically, the new species can be diagnosed from the other species by a combination of 18 characters. The recognition of this new species brings the number of described Pseudocalotes species to 22.
