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| Gonyosoma coeruleum Liu, Hou, Lwin, Wang & Rao, 2021 Blue-eyed Green Mountain Racer | งูทางมะพร้าวเขียว || DOI: 10.3897/evolsyst.5.66574 |
Abstract
A new species of the genus Gonyosoma Wagler is described from Yunnan Province, China. The new species closely resembles G. prasinum (Blyth), but it is differentiated from the latter species by the following characters: precloacal plate divided, iris blue and inside of mouth greyish-white in life. Based on phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence data, the new species is recovered as the sister species to G. prasinum by Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood analyses. The uncorrected pairwise distance between the new species and other species of the genus Gonyosoma ranged from 11.78% to 17.07% calculated using the mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence. This discovery increases the number of Gonyosoma species to seven.
Key Words: Htamanthi, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, taxonomy, Yunnan
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Figure 5. The specimens of Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov. and G. prasinum in life. A the female paratype (KIZ20200729) of Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov. B the juvenile paratype (KIZ20200904) of Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov. C the specimen (SEABRI2019120043) of G. prasinum from Myanmar D the specimen (SEABRI2019120075) of G. prasinum from Myanmar. |
Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Body size medium (SVL 656–833mm in adults); body slender, head elongated and distinct from neck; large eyes with round pupil; tail long (23–28% of total length) and slender; dorsal scales in 19-19-15 rows, 7–11 rows of mid-dorsal scales keeled; single preocular; two postoculars; one or two anterior temporals and two or three posterior temporals; 189–202 ventral scales; 89–106 paired subcaudals; precloacal plate divided. Dorsal surface bright green with brownish-yellow tip of tail, iris blue, inside of mouth greyish white; tongue brownish yellow with black tips.
Etymology: The specific epithet “coeruleum” is the neutral gender of the Latin adjective coeruleus (a, um) meaning “blue”, and is given in reference to the coloration of the iris of this species.
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Figure 4. Comparisons of the colors of iris, the colors of inside of mouth, and the precloacal plates. A, C, and E the holotype (KIZ2019028) of Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov. B, D, and F the specimen (SEABRI2019120043) of G. prasinum. |
Distribution: Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov. is currently known from Xishuangbanna Autonomous Prefecture and Puer City, Yunnan Province, China (Fig. 6), it is probably also distributed in other parts of Yunnan Province and Sichuan, Guizhou, and Hainan Province, China, as well as Southern Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.
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| Figure 7. A habitat at the type locality of Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov. B Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov. asleep on a tree at night. |
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| Figure 2. Type series of Gonyosoma coeruleum sp. nov. in preservative. A dorsal view B ventral view. |
Shuo Liu, Mian Hou, Ye Htet Lwin, Qiaoyan Wang and Dingqi Rao. 2021. A New Species of Gonyosoma Wagler, 1828 (Serpentes, Colubridae), previously confused with G. prasinum (Blyth, 1854). Evolutionary Systematics. 5(1): 129-139. DOI: 10.3897/evolsyst.5.66574
