16 

 Table 3. Subspecific differentiation oiOvophis monticola (Gunther, 1864) 



Table 3 shows that between the population from Gongshan, and monticola and orientalis, the 

 coefficients of difference of the value V+Sc all are greater than 1.28, the AM values all are more than three 

 times the value of S.E.d. It indicates that the population of Gongshan is a subspecies that is here called: 



Shan laotietou, Gonshan variety '^*' Ovophis m. zhaokentangi ssp. nov. 



Holotype : KIZ 730093, adult male, collected on December 1 1th, 1973 at Bapo, Gongshan County, Yunnan 

 Province, elevation 1400-1500 m. 



Cotvpe ['^1: KIZ 730018, adult female, collected on May 23rd, 1973, same locality than holotype. 

 Paratypes : KIZ 730096, male; KIZ 730024 and 730032, females, collected between May 29 and December 

 26, 1973, same locality than holotype. CIB 740003, male, collected on March 17th, 1973 at Pianma, 

 Lushui County, Yurman Province, elevation 1980 m. 



Types are deposited in the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) and the Chengdu Institute of Biology 

 (CIB). 



Diagnosis : 159-169 ventral scales, mean 163.5; 49-63 subcaudals I'^l, mean 54. Intemasals left and right 

 separated by 2 small scales. Pattern similar to the one of monticola. 



Distribution : Gaoligonshan, north of Pianma, Lushui County, western Yunnan Province. 



Etymology : The new subspecies is named in honour to Pr. ZHAO Ken Tang, of the Suzhou Railways 

 Normal College, for his researches in the lacertilian groups Phrynocephahis and Eremias. 



4 SubspeciHc differentiation of the zhuyeqing l^^l 



Trimeresurus stejnegeh occurs in eastern Himalaya and from Myanmar to Thailand and Vietnam; in 

 China, it is largely distributed in the southern provinces, as far north as Wenxian County, Gansu Province 

 (33°N) in the west, and Changbai County, Jilin Province (41°20'N) in the east. Two subspecies were 

 described. The form with 19 dorsal scale rows was raised to specific rank, Trimeresurus yunnanensis 

 (Zhao, 1995). We found that specimens from the populations of Hainan Island have 10-12 supralabials 

 (mean 10.9), 12-14 infralabials (mean 13), 11-17 (mean 13.3) scales in a row between left and right 

 supraoculars. All these values are higher than those recorded for other Chinese populations, especially the 

 number of ventral scales which is clearly greater than those of other specimens from continental China and 

 Taiwan (Table 4). 



