A New Species of Pareas Wagler, 1830 (Squamata, Pareidae) from Northwestern Yunnan, China

Abstract

A new species of Pareas Wagler, 1830 is described from Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China. Phylogenetically, the new species is most closely related to Pareas kaduri Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande, Patel and Mirza, 2020; however, the genetic divergence (uncorrected p-distance) of the cyt b gene between the new species and P. kaduri reached 9.4%. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from P. kaduri by the absence of preoculars, loreal bordering the orbit, the fusion of subocular and postocular, three rows enlarged vertebral scales, five rows keeled mid-dorsal scales at the middle of the body, having more subcaudals, and having a relatively longer tail. In addition, the new species can be distinguished from all other congeners by a combination of morphological characteristics. Our work brings the total number of recognized species of the genus Pareas to 29, of which 23 occur in China.

A New Species of Pareas (Squamata, Pareidae) from Guangxi Province, China

“…Pareas baiseensis sp. nov. differs from Pareas tigerinus by the dorsal surface of the head, which is light brown with dark brown spots (vs. dorsal surface of head solid black or reddish-brown); two anterior temporals (vs. one anterior temporal); two or three suboculars (vs. suboculars fused with postoculars); a higher number of ventrals (187–191 vs. 160–171); and a higher number of subcaudals (89–97 vs. 62–64) [ 14 ].…”

“…The description of Pareas baiseensis sp. nov. from southern China brings the total number of recognized Pareas species to 30, of which 24 occur in China [2,4,14,15]. The genus Pareas has an ancient origin and poor migration ability, and the morphological difference between different species are subtle [9,21,[40][41][42]; a large range of intensive sampling is helpful in discovering cryptic species, especially for some widely distributed types with unclear internal relationships, so sampling should be increased.…”

“…Among them, P.boulengeri is the most widely distributed, which is distributed in Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shaanxi, and Gansu. P. stanleyi is distributed in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan and Guangxi; The distribution of P.chinensis in China is limited to the western and southern marginal mountains of the Sichuan Basin [ 6 , 7 , 14 , 15 ]; Pareas baiseensis sp. nov. is currently known only from the locality investigated, but Baise City is close to the borders of Yunnan and Vietnam, and this species may also occur in these adjacent areas.…”

“…Recent studies have demonstrated that the species diversity of the genus Pareas has been seriously underestimated [ 4 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Since 2015, based on integrative taxonomic approaches incorporating molecular analyses and morphological comparisons, twelve new species have been described, and seven species have been resurrected [ 4 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”

Description of a New Species of the Pareas hamptoni Complex from Yunnan, China, with Confirmation of P. hamptoni Sensu Stricto in China (Squamata, Pareidae)

“…All new sequences have been deposited in Gen-Bank. Aplopeltura boa (Boie, 1828) was selected as the outgroup according to Liu et al [23]. Details of all the sequences used in this study can be found in Table 1.…”