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| Plagiopholis styani Boulenger, 1893, [1-2] Plagiopholis acuta [B-C] Plagiopholis pluvialis Cai, Y. Xu, Vogel, Peng, J. Xu, Cheng, Liang, Li, Wang & Ma, 2025. |
Abstract
During a long period, the genus Plagiopholis included four species and was extremely scarce. One of the members, Plagiopholis styani Boulenger, 1893, was treated as a single species widely distributed in the Dongyang domain of China. However, after new samplings of this species and examination of historical collection specimens, combined with molecular phylogenetic results based on two mitochondrial gene fragments (CO1 and Cyt b) and morphological comparisons of different populations, we found distinct divergences among them. Based on these results, we made the following taxonomic decisions and described the taxa in detail: (1) the populations from the type locality and adjacent areas such as Zhejiang, Anhui, and northeastern Jiangxi were considered Plagiopholis styani sensu stricto; (2) the population from Hunan Province is herein described as a new species, Plagiopholis acuta sp. nov.; (3) the populations from Sichuan and Guizhou provinces are also described herein as a new species, Plagiopholis pluvialis sp. nov. This study brings the total number of Plagiopholis to six and highlights the importance of documenting the cryptic diversity of small-bodied snakes in East Asia’s fragmented montane ecosystems.
Key Words: Chinese mountain snake, classification, Plagiopholis styani complex, redescription, West China rain zone
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| Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views of Plagiopholis acuta sp. nov. in life. A1, B1. QHU 2024009, holotype, adult male; A2, B2. QHU 2024010, paratype, adult female; A3, B3. QHU 2024011, paratype, adult male. Photos by Yuhao Xu. |
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| Plagiopholis pluvialis sp. nov. in life. A. CIB CB2024EM001, holotype, adult male, from Mt. Emei, Sichuan Province, China; B. QHU 2024007, paratype, subadult male, from Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province; C. QHU 2024006, paratype, adult male, from Mt. Qingcheng, Sichuan Province. Photos by: Bo Cai (A), Yuhao Xu (B), and Tianyou Zhang (C). |
Bo Cai, Yuhao Xu, Gernot Vogel, Lifang Peng, Jinan Xu, Lin Cheng, Dong Liang, Mingxi Li, Yingyong Wang and Shun Ma. 2025. Redescription of Plagiopholis styani (Serpentes, Pseudoxenodontidae), with Description of Two New Species from China. Zoosystematics and Evolution. 101(4): 1775-1797. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.152739
