A New Species of the Genus Achalinus (Squamata: Xenodermidae) from the Dabie Mountains, Anhui, China

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 4; p. 708
• Main Authors: Zhang, Caiwen, Liu, Kai, Huang, Ruyi, Hu, Tingli, Yu, Lei, Sun, Ruolei, Zhang, Yucai, Wen, Jing, Zhang, Baowei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 17-02-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Achalinus dabieshanensis sp. nov; Bayesian analysis; Character recognition; Congeners; Divergence; Females; Males; Mitochondrial DNA; Morphology; Mountains; Phylogenetics; Snakes; taxonomy; Dabie Mountains; China; Achalinus dabieshanensis sp. nov; phylogenetics; taxonomy; morphology
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani13040708

A new species of Xenodermid snake,
, was described based on three specimens (two female and one male) collected from the Dabie Mountains of western Anhui Province. It can be distinguished from known congeners by a significant genetic divergence in the mitochondrial gene fragment COI (
-distance ≥ 9.4%) and the following combination of characteristics: (1) length of the suture between the internasals being distinctly shorter than between the prefrontals; (2) a single loreal; (3) dorsal scales strongly keeled, in 23 rows throughout the body; (4) two pairs of prefrontals; (5) six supralabials; (6) five infralabials; (7) temporals 2 + 2 + 3 (or 2 + 2 + 4); (8) 141-155 ventrals; (9) 45-55 subcaudals, unpaired; (10) anal entire; (11) weakly iridescent tinged, uniform, brown to black dorsum with vertebral scales and about three adjacent dorsal scales dark brown forming a longitudinal vertebral line from posterior margin of parietals to tail tip; (12) light brown venter, ventral shields wide, visible on both sides, light brown flanks, giving the appearance of a black subcaudal streak. The recognition of the new species increases the number of described
species to 22.