Redescription of Plagiopholis styani (Serpentes, Pseudoxenodontidae), with description of two new species from China

By

Cai, Bo
Xu, Yuhao
Vogel, Gernot
Peng, Lifang
Xu, Jinan
Cheng, Lin
Liang, Dong
Li, Mingxi
Wang, Ying-Yong
Ma, Shun

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-9-15

Original Publication

Zoosystematics and evolution

Volume

101

Series / Issue

Issue: 4

Pages

1775--1797

Subjects

Chinese mountain snake , Classification , Plagiopholis styani complex , redescription , West China rain zone

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.152739

 

Abstract

During a long period, the genus Plagiopholis included four species and was extremely scarce. One of the members, Plagiopholis styani Boulenger, 1893, was treated as a single species widely distributed in the Dongyang domain of China. However, after new samplings of this species and examination of historical collection specimens, combined with molecular phylogenetic results based on two mitochondrial gene fragments (CO1 and Cyt b) and morphological comparisons of different populations, we found distinct divergences among them. Based on these results, we made the following taxonomic decisions and described the taxa in detail: (1) the populations from the type locality and adjacent areas such as Zhejiang, Anhui, and northeastern Jiangxi were considered Plagiopholis styani sensu stricto; (2) the population from Hunan Province is herein described as a new species, Plagiopholis acutasp. nov.; (3) the populations from Sichuan and Guizhou provinces are also described herein as a new species, Plagiopholis pluvialissp. nov. This study brings the total number of Plagiopholis to six and highlights the importance of documenting the cryptic diversity of small-bodied snakes in East Asia’s fragmented montane ecosystems.