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. 2023 Jun 13:1166:315-331.
doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1166.103055. eCollection 2023.

A new species of Achalinus Peters, 1869 (Squamata, Xenodermidae) from Hunan Province, China

Shun Ma  1   2 , Sheng-Chao Shi  1   2 , Sun-Jun Xiang  3 , Fu Shu  4 , Jian-Ping Jiang  1   2
Affiliations

A new species of Achalinus Peters, 1869 (Squamata, Xenodermidae) from Hunan Province, China

Shun Ma et al. Zookeys. .

Abstract

A new species, Achalinushunanensissp. nov., is described from middle and western Hunan Province based on the results of molecular systematics and morphological characters. It diverges from known congeners by a significant genetic divergence (p-distance 3.2%-16.9% based on CO1 mitochondrial gene), and it can be distinguished from all known congeners by the following morphological characters: (1) all dorsal scales strongly keeled, 23 rows throughout the body, the outmost one strongly keeled and enlarged; (2) tail relatively short, TaL/TL 0.221 ~ 0.225; (3) maxillary teeth 23; (4) the suture between internasals 2 × as long as that between prefrontals; (5) loreal one, subrectangular, LorH/LorL 0.62 ~ 0.70; (6) supralabials 6, the 4th and 5th touch the eye; (7) the two anterior temporals in contact with eye; (8) ventrals 163-165, subcaudals 69-72, not paired. This raises the number of known species of Achalinus to 24.

Keywords: Achalinushunanensis sp. nov.; divergence time; morphology; phylogeny; taxonomy.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflict of interest was declared.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Distribution of Achalinushunanensis sp. nov. and its sister taxon A.ningshanensis. Blue pentacle: the type locality of A.ningshanensis: Xunyangba, Ningshan County, Shaanxi Province, China. Red triangle: the type locality of A.hunanensis sp. nov. (CIB 119039): Hecheng District, Huaihua City, Hunan Province, China. Red circle: A.hunanensis sp. nov. (CIB 119040): Wazizhai, Ningxiang County, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Phylogenetic tree of the genus Achalinus inferred from CO1 gene fragment (681 bp) using Maximum Likelihood. The tree nodes present the supporting values: SH-like approximate likelihood ratio test, Ultrafast Bootstrap Approximation and Bayesian posterior probabilities, respectively (SH, %/UFB, %/BI) (the ones lower than 50 are displayed as “-”). Achalinusningshanensis is noted in blue and A.hunanensis sp. nov. is noted in red.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Divergence date estimation (Mya) and 95% HPD (in square bracket) of Clade F. Achalinusningshanensis is in blue and A.hunanensis sp. nov. is in red.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The holotype (CIB 119039, subadult male) of Achalinushunanensis sp. nov. A dorsolateral view B ventral view C right side of middle body view D dorsal head view E left side of head view F right side of head view G ventral head view. Photographs by SCS.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
The paratype (CIB 119040, subadult male) of the Achalinushunanensis sp. nov. A dorsolateral view B ventral view C dorsal head view D right side of head view E ventral head view. Photographs by SCS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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