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| Hebius chapaensis (Bourret, 1934)
in Ren, Wang, Nguyen, Hoang, Zhong, et al., 2018.
Photograph by Kai Wang.
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Abstract
The Asian monotypic genus Pararhabdophis Bourret, 1934 has long been known from a single holotype of the type species Pararhabdophis chapaensis Bourret, 1934 only. The limited available information hampered the identification of the natricine species. On the basis of eight newly collected specimens of P. chapaensis from the type locality in Sa Pa, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam and from Pingbian, Yunnan Province in southwestern China, the taxonomic position of the genus Pararhabdophis was re-evaluated using both morphological and molecular datasets for the first time. Pararhabdophis chapaensis is nested within the genus Hebius Thompson, 1913 with strong support, and morphologically indistinguishable from the latter genus. As a consequence, we herein synonymize the genus Pararhabdophis with Hebius and discuss about the existing paraphyly of some Hebius species. In addition we report Hebius chapaensis for the first time from China and provide redescription and natural history data of this poorly known species. To facilitate future taxonomic work, an identification key to all known natricine genera from China and Vietnam is also provided.
Keywords: Reptilia, Amphiesma, Hebius, Parahelicops, cryptic diversity, distribution, misidentification, new record
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| General aspect of Hebius chapaensis (YBU 14026; male), showing coloration in life, Daweishan National Nature Reserve, Pingbian County, southern Yunnan Province, China.
Photograph by Kai Wang.
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Hebius chapaensis
Hebius chapaensis (Bourret, 1934)
Pararhabdophis chapaensis Bourret, 1934. Bull. Gén. Instr. Publ. Hanoi 14 (7): 131–132, fig. 2.
Type locality. “Chapa, province de Laokay (Tonkin), à l’altitude moyenne de 1.600 m., Indochine française” [= Sa Pa, NW Lao Cai Prov., ext. N Vietnam, ..., elevation 1500–1600 m]. Holotype. MNHN 1938.0125 (formerly RLB M.270), a 690+ mm male (Collected by R.L. Bourret, collected around 1930–1931).
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Etymology. The original generic nomen, Pararhabdophis, is based on the Greek prefix para-, meaning near or similar, and the natricine generic name Rhabdophis, presumably refers to the morphological similarity between two genera, and the gender of this generic name is possibly masculine. The newly referred generic nomen is Hebius, which was erected by Thompson (1913) on the basis of the morphology of the hemipenis. The generic name presumably derived from the Greek noun ἥβη “hebe”, meaning youth or pubescence, maybe refers to the densely spinous hemipenis, which is the salient diagnostic characteristic of this group. The gender of this generic name is masculine.
The species name is derived from the type locality of this species (Chapa, = Sa Pa, in Lao Cai Province of Vietnam) and it remains unchanged if the gender of the genus changes. We suggest “SaPa Keelback” as its common name, and “Sha Ba Fu Lian She” as its Chinese common name.
Jin-Long Ren, Kai Wang, Tao Thien Nguyen, Chung Van Hoang, Guang-Hui Zhong, Ke Jiang, Peng Guo and Jia-Tang Li. 2018. Taxonomic Re-evaluation of the Monotypic Genus Pararhabdophis Bourret, 1934 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) with Discovery of Its Type Species, P. chapaensis, from China. Zootaxa. 4486(1); 31–56. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4486.1.2
