Corresponding author: Jian-Huan Yang (
Academic editor Uwe Fritz
A new species of the genus
Southeast Asian reed snakes of the genus
During long-term and extensive biodiversity surveys conducted by Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Southern China between 1997 and 2002, a
The specimen were preserved in 80% ethanol and deposited at the Herpetological Collection of Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (
Genomic DNA was extracted from the muscle tissue using a Qiagen DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit (Qiagen Biotech). We amplified fragments of mitochondrial 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and cytochrome-
In addition to our new specimen of
Samples and sequences used for phylogenetic analysis in this study.
|
|
|
|
(1) |
Mt. Dadongshan, Guangdong, China | ||
(2) |
Hainan Island, China | ||
(3) |
FTB2839 | Unknown | |
(4) |
ROM 35597 | Cao Bang, Vietnam | |
(5) |
ROM 35605 | Cao Bang, Vietnam | —, —, |
(6) |
Ningming, Guangxi, China | ||
(7) |
ROM 41547 | Simao, Yunnan, China | |
(8) |
Unknown | ||
(9) |
SYS r001699 | Yingjiang, Yunnan, China | |
(10) |
FMNH 258666 | Phongsaly, Laos | —, |
(11) |
USMHC 1450 | Penang, Peninsular Malaysia | —, —, |
(12) |
LSUHC 10278 | Perak, Peninsular Malaysia | —, —, |
(13) |
LSUMZ 40626 | Turkey, European Turkey | |
(14) |
LSUMZ 44977 | Unknown | |
(15) |
MVZ 211019 | Yinnan, Ningxia, China |
Terminology and measurements follow
Comparative morphological data from other species of
The fragments of mitochondrial 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and cytochrome-
The uncorrected pairwise divergence of the cyt-
Bayesian inference (
Uncorrected
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) |
— | ||||||||||||||
(2) |
14.8 | — | |||||||||||||
(3) |
13.9 | 2.0 | — | ||||||||||||
(4) |
14.3 | 5.2 | 4.6 | — | |||||||||||
(5) |
14.4 | 6.0 | 4.9 | 0.0 | — | ||||||||||
(6) |
22.2 | 18.6 | 17.7 | 19.2 | 19.8 | — | |||||||||
(7) |
21.2 | 16.4 | 16.2 | 15.9 | 15.9 | 20.6 | — | ||||||||
(8) |
20.9 | 16.2 | 16.0 | 15.9 | 15.7 | 20.4 | 0.0 | — | |||||||
(9) |
20.7 | 16.8 | 16.0 | 16.7 | 16.6 | 22.0 | 10.5 | 10.3 | — | ||||||
(10) |
21.1 | 18.8 | 19.3 | 19.8 | 19.6 | 21.6 | 19.4 | 19.2 | 19.4 | — | |||||
(11) |
27.1 | 25.4 | 24.8 | 24.5 | 24.8 | 27.1 | 26.3 | 25.8 | 26.0 | 24.4 | — | ||||
(12) |
27.5 | 23.1 | 23.2 | 24.1 | 23.5 | 24.7 | 25.3 | 24.9 | 24.6 | 21.4 | 19.9 | — | |||
(13) |
27.7 | 25.2 | 24.5 | 25.3 | 25.6 | 27.8 | 25.7 | 25.3 | 27.5 | 26.6 | 25.4 | 25.9 | — | ||
(14) |
28.4 | 25.7 | 24.4 | 26.3 | 26.2 | 28.1 | 29.7 | 29.2 | 28.4 | 28.5 | 24.7 | 25.3 | 17.8 | — | |
(15) |
28.9 | 26.9 | 26.3 | 26.5 | 27.2 | 31.0 | 28.3 | 27.8 | 28.3 | 26.8 | 26.1 | 26.0 | 20.1 | 20.2 | — |
Lingnan Reed Snake (English), 岭南两头蛇 (Chinese)
The species epithet “
Holotype of
Head of the holotype of
Holotype of
Male. Rostral wider than high (height 1.8 mm, width 2.2 mm), portion visible from above about equal to prefrontal suture; prefrontal shorter than frontal, not entering orbit, and touching first two supralabials; frontal hexagonal, about 2.2 times maximum width of supraocular; paraparietal surrounded by six shields and scales; a single preocular present, higher than postocular; postocular one, higher than wide, not as high as eye diameter; eye diameter 1.4 mm, larger than eye-mouth distance 0.8 mm; distance from anterior corner of eye to nostril 1.9 mm and to the tip of snout 3.1 mm; pupil rounded; supralabials 4/4 (left/right, hereafter), second and third entering orbit, fourth longest, third about 0.9 times of second in length, first shorter than third and as wide as second; mental semicircular to triangular, not touching anterior chin shields; infralabials 5/5, first three touching anterior chin shields; first pair of chin shields meeting in midline, second pair touching anteriorly and separated posteriorly by first gular scales; three gulars in midline between second chin shields and first ventrals; dorsal scales in 13 rows throughout body, reducing to eight rows above 3rd subcaudal, to seven rows above 8th subcaudal, to six rows above 10th subcaudal, and to five rows above the last subcaudal on tail; ventral scales 170, subcaudals 22, divided, followed by a shield covering tail tip; anal scale single.
Head length 7.1 mm; head width 5.1 mm;
Dorsal surface of body grey-brown above, somewhat iridescent; dark collar at nuchal region absent; indistinct light ring behind head present, nearly invisible; a narrow interrupted light ring at root of tail present, followed by few light spots on middle and tip of tail. Underside of head orangish-beige with black flecks on the infralabials; ventral scales of body and tail immaculate orangish-red, without dark pigmentation on outermost corners and anterior margins; underside of tail without dark longitudinal line or blotches.
Color preserved in ethanol fade to caramel-brown above. Dorsal head and upper parts of supralabials brown, lower parts of supralabials light yellow; underside of head light yellow with brownish spots on the infralabials; presence of an indistinct narrow yellow ring about 5 scales wide on neck, nearly invisible; dorsum of body caramel-brown, with light flecks on each dorsal scale; two outermost dorsal scale rows light yellow with upper margins partly dark pigmented; a narrow interrupted light ring at root of tail, light spots on middle and tip of tail still visible; ventral scales of body and tail uniformly light yellowish-beige; underside of tail without dark median line or blotches.
We compared
The holotype was found active on a cloudy morning along a trail in tall shrubland and secondary forest.
Comparative characters of the head shape and body coloration of
Comparison of the tail shape and coloration among
Map of Southern China showing the type locality of
The description of
This study was supported by Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Hong Kong. We would like to thank the provincial and local forestry departments of Guangdong Province for permission to conduct fieldwork and logistics support during the survey. We thank Uwe Fritz, Bryan Stuart, Gernot Vogel and Justin Lee for their valuable comments on the manuscript.