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| Lycodon cathaya
Wang, Qi, Lyu, Zeng & Wang, 2020 Huaping Wolf Snake | 花坪白环蛇 || DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.954.53432
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Abstract
A new species of colubrid snake, Lycodon cathaya sp. nov., is described based on two adult male specimens collected from Huaping Nature Reserve, Guangxi, southern China. In a phylogenetic analyses, the new species is shown to be a sister taxon to the clade composed of L. futsingensis and L. namdongensis with low statistical support, and can be distinguished from all known congeners by the significant genetic divergence in the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene fragment (p-distance ≥ 7.9%), and morphologically by the following combination of characters: (1) dorsal scales in 17–17–15 rows, smooth throughout; (2) supralabials eight, third to fifth in contact with eye, infralabials nine; (3) ventral scales 199–200 (plus two preventral scales), subcaudals 78; (4) loreal single, elongated, in contact with eye or not, not in contact with internasals; (5) a single preocular not in contact with frontal, supraocular in contact with prefrontal, two postoculars; (6) maxillary teeth 10 (4+2+2+2); (7) two anterior temporals, three posterior temporals; (8) precloacal plate entire; (9) ground color from head to tail brownish black, with 31–35 dusty rose bands on body trunk, 13–16 on tail; (10) bands in 1–2 vertebral scales broad in minimum width; (11) bands separate ground color into brownish black ellipse patches arranged in a row along the top of body and tail; (12) elliptical patches in 3–6 scales of the vertebral row in maximum width; (13) ventral surface of body with wide brownish black strip, margined with a pair of continuous narrow greyish white ventrolateral lines. With the description of the new species, 64 congeners are currently known in the genus Lycodon, with 16 species occurring in China.
Keywords: Colubrinae, Guangxi, Lycodon cathaya sp. nov., morphology, phylogeny, taxonomy
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| Figure 3. General aspects in life and close-ups of body scales of A Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. (SYS r001542, holotype) from Huaping Nature Reserve, Guangxi, China B L. futsingensis (SYS r002123) from Gaoping Nature Reserve, Shaoguan City, Guangdong, China, and C L. ruhstrati (SYS r001631) from Huaping Nature Reserve, Guangxi, China. |
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| Figure 4. General aspect of Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. (SYS r001542, holotype) in life when observed. |
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| Figure 5. Comparative characters of head scalation and color patterns (in preservative) of A Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. (SYS r001542, holotype) B Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. (SYS r001630, paratype) C L. futsingensis (SYS r002123), and D L. ruhstrati (SYS r001631). Scale bars: 10 mm. |
Lycodon cathaya sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following morphological characters: (1) dorsal scales in 17–17–15 rows, smooth throughout; (2) supralabials eight, third to fifth in contact with eye, infralabials 9; (3) ventral scales 199–200 (plus two preventral scales), subcaudals 78; (4) loreal single, elongated, in contact with eye or not, not in contact with internasals; (5) a single preocular not in contact with frontal, supraocular in contact with prefrontal, two postoculars; (6) maxillary teeth 10 (4+2+2+2); (7) two anterior temporals, three posterior temporals; (8) precloacal plate entire; (9) ground color from head to tail brownish black, with 31–35 dusty rose bands on body trunk, 13–16 on tail; (10) bands in 1–2 vertebral scales broad in minimum width; (11) bands separate ground color into brownish black ellipse patches, similar arrangement in a row along the top of body and tail; (12) elliptical patches in 3–6 scales of the vertebral row in maximum width; (13) ventral surface of body with a wide brownish black strip, margined with a pair of continuous narrow greyish white ventrolateral lines.
Etymology: The specific name cathaya is a noun referring to the monotypic botanic genus Cathaya Chun & Kuang, 1958. The single species Cathaya argyrophylla Chun & Kuang, 1958 is an endangered relict plant, and was firstly discovered from Huaping Nature Reserve by the investigation team of Sun Yat-sen University. In memory of the predecessors and their contributions on the taxonomy of Chinese flora and fauna, we denominate this new snake species from Huaping Nature Reserve as Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. Its common name is suggested as “Huaping Wolf Snake” in English and “Hua Ping Bai Huan She (花坪白环蛇)” in Chinese.
Jian Wang, Shuo Qi, Zhi-Tong Lyu, Zhao-Chi Zeng and Ying-Yong Wang. 2020. A New Species of the Genus Lycodon (Serpentes, Colubridae) from Guangxi, China. ZooKeys. 954: 85-108. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.954.53432
