Thursday, March 5, 2020

[Herpetology • 2020] Dendrelaphis vogeli • A New Species of the Genus Dendrelaphis (Squamata: Colubridae) from Yunnan Province, China


Dendrelaphis vogeli 
Jiang, Guo, Ren & Li, 2020

in Jiang, Ren, Guo, et al., 2020
Vogel’s Bronze-back | 沃氏过树蛇 || DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4743.1.1 

Abstract
A new species of the genus Dendrelaphis is described from Xishuangbanna, southern Yunnan, China, based on molecular and morphological data. The new species can be differentiated from other congeners by the following combination of characters: 1) ground color of body bronze, a black postocular stripe extending onto the neck only; 2) pale and dark ventrolateral stripe absent; 3) relatively indistinct transverse bands on the anterior part of lateral body; 4) loreal single; 5) vertebral scales strongly enlarged; 6) dorsal scale rows 15-15-11, all smooth; 7) ventrals 193–197, subcaudals 130–135, paired; 8) SVL/TOL ratio 0.292–0.301; 9) supralabials 9, 4th through 6th touching the eye; 10) the outermost row of dorsal scales the same color as other dorsal scales; 11) retracted hemipenis extending to the 6–7th subcaudal scales. According to molecular and morphological data, D. ngansonensis likely belongs to the D. cyanochloris complex. We further discussed D. cyanochloris complex from Tibet, Yunnan and Hainan, China. A key to Chinese species of Dendrelaphis is provided.

Keywords: Reptilia, Dendrelaphis vogeli sp. nov., Dendrelaphis cyanochloris, complex, Dendrelaphis ngansonensis, taxonomy, Tibet, Hainan

Figure 6. Dendrelaphis vogeli sp. nov.  (holotype, CIB 110716) in life, showing head and anterior body. Photographs by J.L. Ren.

Figure 5. Dendrelaphis vogeli sp. nov. (holotype, CIB 110716) in life, showing dorsolateral view of the body. Photographs by J.L. Ren. 

Dendrelaphis vogeli sp. nov. 

Etymology: The specific epithet “vogeli” is named after Mr. Gernot Vogel (Heidelberg, Germany), for his excellent contributions to the taxonomy of the genus Dendrelaphis. He and his collaborators published a series of articles to resolve taxonomic problems in this genus and described several new species. We suggest Vogel’s Bronze-back as its English common name, and “Wo Shi Guo Shu She (沃氏过树蛇)” as its Chinese common name. 

Ke Jiang, Jin-Long Ren, Jun-Feng Guo, Zeng Wang, Li Ding and Jia-Tang Li. 2020. A New Species of the Genus Dendrelaphis (Squamata: Colubridae) from Yunnan Province, China, with Discussion of the Occurrence of D. cyanochloris (Wall, 1921) in China. Zootaxa. 4743(1); 1–20. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4743.1.1


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