Lycodon gongshan, Vogel, Gernot & Luo, Jian, 2011

Vogel, Gernot & Luo, Jian, 2011, A new species of the genus Lycodon (Boie, 1826) from the southwestern mountains of China (Squamata: Colubridae), Zootaxa 2807, pp. 29-40 : 33-37

Lycodon gongshan spec. nov.

( Figs 3–4 )

Holotype. KIZ 730034 adult male (tail dissected), from “Bapo, Gongshan , China ”, today Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China ( Figs 3–4 ). Collector unknown.

Paratypes (n = 3). KIZ 730008, juvenile male (tail dissected), from “Bapo, Gongshan , China ”, today Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China; collector unknown. HNU 200609001, adult male, from Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China; collected by Qingbai Hou. HNU 200505002, adult female, from Xiaoheishan, Longjiang Township, Longling County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China; collected by Yan Hengmei, Liang Hongbin and Guo Keji.

Diagnosis. A species of the genus Lycodon characterized by: (1) a loreal scale entering the orbit; (2) 17 dorsal scale rows anteriorly and at midbody; (3) upper and vertebral dorsal rows (6–12) are keeled; (4) 210–216 ventrals in males, and 215 ventrals in the single female known; (5) 95–96 subcaudals in males, and 92 subcaudals in the single female; (6) relative tail length ca. 0.231–0.232 in males, and 0.215 in the female; (7) 8 supralabials with SL 4– 6 touching the orbit; (7) 32–40 pale bands on a dark body; (8) breadth of the anteriormost band 1 dorsal scale middorsally, 3–4 ventrals, midventrally; (9) belly with discreet bands throughout, and (10) dark ventrals on the throat.

This species can be recognized by its long tail (tail length/total length 0.231–0.232 in males, 0.215 in females, vs. 0.198–0.225 in males, 0.193–0.219 in females of L. fasciatus ), and the high number of subcaudals (95–96 in males, and 92 in females). Also, its anteriormost pale band is very narrow, being 1 dorsal scale broad middorsally in all 4 known specimens, vs. 1–5 dorsals (x = 2.5 in 62 specimens) in the L. fasciatus group, with the anteriormost band starting at ventral 4–7 (vs. usually ventral 10-16 in L. fasciatus and in species of the L. ruhstrati group). Furthermore, the new species has a dark throat, whereas in L. fasciatus usually the throat is white (except in some individuals from parts of Yunnan. Vogel et al. unpublished data). Detailed comparisons with other species of the genus Lycodon appear below in the Discussion.

Comparison. Superficially, Lycodon gongshan spec. nov. resembles other species of the Lycodon fasciatus group. It differs from L. fasciatus by its much longer tail, more ventrals in males (210–216 vs. 190–211), more subcaudals in males (94–96 vs. 74–90) and females (92 vs. 67–88). In L. gongshan in all eight occurrences only four lower labials touch the anterior chin shields, whereas in L. fasciatus this is usually five, and only rarely four (on both sides only in five of 64 specimens). The anteriormost band lies closer to the head in L. gongshan (first band starts at ventral 4–7 vs.usually 8–18 in L. fasciatus , rarely 5-8 in five of 67 specimens), and is very narrow, only one dorsal scale broad in the four available specimens, vs. usually 1.5–6 in L. fasciatus (rarely one dorsal scale broad, 5 of 67 specimens). The number of subcaudals and tail length are sexually dimorphic in the new species, but not in L. fasciatus ( Table 2 ). Lastly, L. gongshan spec. nov reaches a larger size than L. fasciatus : two of the three available males of the new species are considerably larger than the largest of the 32 males of L. fasciatus at hand; the single female of the new species is larger than the 36 examined females of L. fasciatus .

Dinodon yunnanensis Werner, 1922 was described from Yunnanfu, now Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. It is currently regarded as a synonym of Lycodon fasciatus ( Pope, 1935; Zhao & Adler, 1993). As with Lycodon fasciatus , the holotype of Dinodon yunnanensis differs from L. gongshan spec. nov. in the number of ventrals and subcaudals, in the relative tail length, and in having fewer bands on the body + tail (23+7 vs. 32–40 + 12–16 in L. gongshan spec. nov.). A comparison of L. gongshan spec. nov. with species of the L. fasciatus and L. ruhstrati groups is given in Table 4.

Etymology. The specific name refers to the area of origin of this species, Gongshan County. We suggest the following common names: Gongshan Baihuanshe (Chinese), Gongshan Wolf Snake (English), Gongshan Wolfszahnnatter ( German).

Description of the holotype. Habitus. Body elongate, somewhat laterally compressed; head flattened anteriorly, well distinct from neck; snout depressed and elongated; nostril oval, large. Eye moderate, pupil vertically elliptic. SVL 740 mm; TaL 223 mm; TL 963 mm. Body scalation. 212 ventrals (+ 1 preventral), 96 subcaudals, all paired. Anal entire. Dorsal scales in 17–17–15 rows, the 6 upper rows feebly keeled. Vertebral row not enlarged. No apical pit detected. Head scalation. Rostral triangular, hardly visible from above; nasal vertically divided by furrow below and above nostril; two small internasals, widely in contact with each other and prefrontals; two large prefrontals, longer and wider than internasals; rather small, more or less triangular frontal; 2 large parietals, each bordered by three large scales, 2 upper temporals and larger paraparietal posteriorly; 1/1 supraocular; 1/1 preocular, above posterior part of loreal; 2/2 subequal postoculars; 1/1 loreal, rather elongate and narrow, entering orbit, in contact with SL 2 and 3, preocular, prefrontal and posterior part of nasal; 8/8 SL, SL 1–2 in contact with nasal, SL 3–5 entering orbit, 6th SL largest; 2+2/2+3 temporals, lower anterior temporal slightly broader than upper; 8/8 infralabials, IL 1–4 in contact with first pair of chin shields anterior and posterior chin shields about same length on right, on left anterior larger than posterior, anterior pair wider. Coloration in preservative. Body and tail dark brown, with 37 crossbands on body and 15 on tail, anteriorly narrow, becoming wider posteriorly; crossbands about 1 dorsal scale broad middorsally, widening ventrolaterally to about 3–4 dorsals broad; first crossband beginning at level of ventral 5; second crossband 4 scales behind first; crossbands on body darker centered with dark brown speckles; crossbands on tail also darkly speckled. Head uniformly blackish-brown; no collar. Underside of head dark on anterior third, otherwise cream; throat cream with dark, cloudy speckles on first four ventrals. Venter dark with clear, rather irregular cream bands, 2-3 ventrals broad, with 2–4 ventrals between each band. Within bands some ventrals dark on one half and cream on other, especially on posterior of body. Under surface of tail banded as body venter, clear cream bands about 3 subcaudals broad.

Variation. The paratypes, agree in most respects with the description of the holotype. A comparison of the most important morphological characters is summarized in Table 3 .

Distribution. China. Lycodon gongshan is presently only known from the Gongshan County and Longling County areas, in Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China. Both localities are situated in the Hengduan Mountains ( Fig 5 ).

Biology. There is no information available on the biology of this species.

There are four specimens of Lycodon fasciatus available, collected in the Hengduan Mountains. All stem from Yunnan Province. These are KIZ 74 II 0 263 from Tuantian, Tengchong County, KIZ 74 I 0 145 from Husa, Longchuan County, KIZ 74 I 0 0 35 from Gongwa, Longchuan County, and KIZ 74 II 0 262 from Tengchong County. Longchuan, Tengchong and Yingjiang are located in the southwest of Gaoligong Mountain, in the Hengduan Mountains. The first three specimens are females, the last is male. All of them are typical L. fasciatus and the morphology is well within the range of this species. Thus, L. fasciatus is sympatric (but perhaps not syntopic) with L. gongshan spec. nov. in at least some areas.

Lycodon gongshan spec. nov. seems to be endemic to the Hengduan Mountains, a range of about 500 km in length, reaching 6,740 m a.s.l. This range is already known as a centre of endemism and high biodiversity ( Venell 2006; Fu et al. 2007), but still seems to be relatively underexplored for reptiles and amphibians ( Stotz et al. 2003). In 2003, UNESCO included the area “Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan” in the World Heritage List. One reason was explained as follows: “Northwest Yunnan is the area of richest biodiversity in China and may be the most biologically diverse temperate region on Earth. The property encompasses most of the natural habitats in the Hengduan Mountains, one of the world's most important remaining areas for the conservation of the Earth's biodiversity” ( UNESCO 2003).

Previously, 23 reptile species were regarded as endemic to the Hengduan Mountains ( Zhao & Yang 1997), and there are ten endemic snake species here, namely: Gloydius monticola ( Werner, 1922) (Yunnan Province), Ovophis zayuensis (Jiang, 1977) (Tibet Autonomous Region), Protobothrops xiangchengensis (Zhao, Jiang, & Huang, 1978) (Sichuan and Yunnan provinces), Achalinus meiguensis Hu & Zhao, 1966 (Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces), Calamaria yunnanensis Chernov, 1962 (Yunnan Province), Euprepiophis perlaceus (Stejneger, 1929) (Sichuan Province), Oligodon multizonatus Zhao & Jiang, 1981 (Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces), Pareas nigriceps Guo & Deng, 2009 (Yunnan Province), Rhabdophis pentasupralabialis Jiang & Zhao, 1983 (Sichuan and Yunnan provinces), and Thermophis zhaoermii Guo, Liu, Feng & He, 2008 (Sichuan Province) ( Luo et al. 2010). Several endemic subspecies of snakes have also been described from this area, and the following are sometimes regarded as valid but should be checked for their status: Sibynophis chinensis miyiensis Zhao & Kou, 1987 (Sichuan and Yunnan provinces), Elaphe carinata deqinensis Yang & Su, 1984 (Yunnan Province), Macropisthodon rudis multiprefrontalis Zhao & Jiang, 1981 (Sichuan Province), and Ovophis monticola zhaokentangi Zhao, 1995 (Yunnan Province) ( Luo et al. 2010). Having in mind that several subspecies of Oriental snakes proved to be valid species in recent years (e.g., Wüster & Thorpe, 1992; Vogel & David, 2007, Vogel & Rooijen, (2011 in print), it is expected that some of these may eventually receive full species status.

As already mentioned ( Vogel & David, 2010), there are still several lineages combined under the name Lycodon fasciatus . This fact explains the large ranges of some characters in Lycodon fasciatus sensu lato. Thus, some characters of Lycodon gongshan spec. nov. might currently appear less diagnostic than they actually are. More material, especially from remote Chinese areas, is needed for a better understanding of the L. fasciatus complex. This is another example of a supposedly widespread species that, upon closer examination, proves to be a species complex. A similar situation in other taxa would represent a greater underestimation of diversity in the ophidian fauna of the Oriental region than currently appreciated, a topic that requires further investigation. Centers of endemicity can be overlooked by inaccurate and/or imprecise taxonomies, which may lead to dire consequences in nature conservation, especially for taxa less well studied than vertebrates.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Dorsal view of the preserved Holotype of Lycodon gongshan spec. nov., KIZ 730034, TL 963 mm. A) Dorsal view, B) ventral view. Photographs by Gernot Vogel.

FIGURE 4 Lateral view of right side of the head of the preserved holotype of Lycodon gongshan spec. nov., KIZ 730034. Photograph by Gernot Vogel.

FIGURE 5. Map showing the distribution of Lycodon gongshan spec. nov. (red squares 1 - 2), Lycodon fasciatus (green squares 3 - 7), “ Dinodon yunnanensis ” (blue square 8), and Lycodon synaptor (yellow square 9). 1. “ Bapo ”, now Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China [Type locality of Lycodon gongshan spec. nov.]; 2. Xiaoheishan, Longjiang Township, Longling County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China; 3. “ Ponsee ”, now Bangxi, Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China [former type locality of Ophites fasciatus]; 4. “ Mogok ”, Mandalay Division, Myanmar [New type locality of Lycodon fasciatus]; 5. Tuantian, Tengchong County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China; 6. Husa, Longchuan County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China; 7. Ruili City, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China; 8. “ Yunnanfu ”, now Kunming City, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China [Type locality of Dinodon yunnanensis]; 9. “ Tongchuan ”, now Dongchuan District, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China [Type locality of Lycodon synaptor]. “ For Lycodon fasciatus only specimens from the Gongshan area are shown in the map. ”

Tables

TABLE 3. Scalation of the four type specimens of Lycodon gongshan spec. nov. * = holotype. 1: small part of the tail tip missing.

Characters Sex SVL TaL Rel TL	KIZ 730034* adult male 740 223 0.232	KIZ 730008 juvenile male 236 71 0.231	HNU 200609001 adult male 691 237 -1	HNU 200505002 adult female 598 164 0.215
ASR	17	17	17	17
MSR VEN SC	17 212 96	17 216 95	17 210 94 1	17 215 92
Lo enters eye Dorsal bands Tail bands	yes 37 15	yes 40 16	yes 38 16	yes 32 13
First band at VEN no Broad base [VEN] Broad vertebral [Dorsals]	5 4 1	4 3.5 1	6 3 1	7 4 1
Discussion