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| Pareas melanops Liu, Li, Yang & Rao, 2025 Black-eyed Slug-eating Snake | DOI: doi.org/10.1590/S1984-4689.v42.e24068 |
ABSTRACT
A new species of Pareas is described from Gengma County, Lincang City, Yunnan Province, China, based on morphological comparisons and phylogenetic analysis. The new species is phylogenetically closely related and morphologically similar to P. nigriceps and P. tigerinus. It can be distinguished from P. nigriceps and P. tigerinus and other congeners by a combination of the following characters: snout-vent length 352-472 mm in adults, tail length/snout-vent length 0.25-0.29, preoculars 1-2, subocular single, postocular single, one row of vertebral scales enlarged, 1-7 rows of dorsal scales keeled at mid-body, ventral scales 172-176, subcaudals 68-77, maxillary teeth 4-5, dorsal head solid black, 62-69 black bars on trunk, 27-33 black bars on tail, iris solid black.
KEYWORDS: Molecular; morphology; slug-eating snake; taxonomy.
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| The holotype (KIZ 2024092) of Pareas melanops sp. nov. in life: (A) general view; (B) dorsal view of the head; (C) lateral view of the head. |
Pareas melanops sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Body size moderate (SVL 352-472 mm in adults), tail moderately long (TL/SVL 0.25-0.29), prefrontal bordering orbit, preoculars 1-2, subocular single, postocular single, subocular and postocular not fused, supralabials 7-8, infralabials seven, infralabial not fused with chin-shield, anterior temporal 1-3, posterior temporals 2-3, one row of vertebral scales slightly enlarged, 1-7 rows of dorsal scales keeled at mid-body, ventral scales 172-176, subcaudals 68-77, maxillary teeth 4-5, dorsal head solid black, dark nuchal band present, two large black spots on each side of head, 62-69 vertical black bars on each side of trunk, 27-33 vertical black bars on each side of tail, iris solid black.
Etymology. The specific epithet “melanops” is an adjec tive in the nominative case derived from the Ancient Greek “melanos” for “black” and “ops” for “eye”, and is given in reference to the conspicuous uniform black iris coloration of the new species. We recommend “Black-eyed Slug-eating Snake” for the common English name and Pinyin: heī yǎn dùn tóu shé for the common Chinese name of the new species.
Shuo Liu, Zhimin Li, Tong Yang and Dingqi Rao. 2025. A New Species of Pareas (Squamata: Pareidae) from southwestern Yunnan, China. Zoologia (Curitiba). 42; DOI: doi.org/10.1590/S1984-4689.v42.e24068
