Lau's Mountain Stream Snake

description

Description of holotype. Specimen KIZ 0 60100, female, SVL 241.8 mm, TL 56.9 mm; HL 12.4 mm. Head small, indistinct from neck; eye small, pupil round; nostril directed dorsally; rostral broader than high, just visible from above; nasal not divided below nostril, surrounded by the first three supralabials, rostral, internasal, prefrontal and loreal on both sides; two narrow internasals, nearly twice as long as broad, in contact with rostral anteriorly, and not in contact with loreal; one prefrontal, about 2.2 times as width as long, pentagonal and tapering anteriorly; one frontal, length about 1.1 times as width, about equal to its distance from snout tip, nearly triangular and tapering posteriorly; one paired parietals, about 1.3 times longer than the frontal; one loreal, not in contact with eye, and surrounded by third – fifth supralabials, nasal, prefrontal and preocular on both sides; one preocular, in normal size, not in contact with frontal; two postoculars, lower one much smaller than upper one; one extremely small pre-subocular present on left side, absent on right side; 10 / 10 (left / right, hereafter) supralabials, only the sixth supralabial touching the eye on left side,

A new species of the genus Opisthotropis Günther, 1872 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Guangdong Province, China

diagnosis

Diagnosis. Opisthotropis laui sp. nov. differs from other species of Opisthotropis by the combination of the following characters: dorsal scales weakly keeled throughout, in 25: 23: 23 rows; 10 supralabials; 11 infralabials; two internasals, longer than wide, not touching with the loreal; one loreal, not touching with the eye; one preocular; two postoculars; one anterior temporal scale; 152 ventrals; 53 subcaudals; body and tail dark olive above, with light yellow cross bars. See Table 1 for the detailed morphological comparison of the new species with other congeners. In the appearance, Opisthotropis laui sp. nov. greatly resembles O. cheni and O. guangxiensis since all three species present narrow light cross bars on dorsum (Zhao et al., 2006; David et al., 2011; Fig. 3). Opisthotropis laui sp. nov. differs from O. cheni by having dorsal scale rows 25: 23: 23 (vs. 17: 17: 17 in O. cheni), weakly keeled throughout (vs. all but the outer one weakly keeled in O. cheni); one preocular (vs. absent in O. cheni); more supralabials (10 vs. 7 – 9 in O. cheni); more infralabials (11 vs. 8 – 10 in O. cheni); loreal not touching the eye (vs. touching in O. cheni). Opisthotropis laui sp. nov.

A new species of the genus Opisthotropis Günther, 1872 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Guangdong Province, China

distribution

Distribution and natural history. Currently, Opisthotropis laui sp. nov. is only known from its type locality at Beifengshan Forest Park in Mt. Gudou, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, China (Fig. 4). Mt. Gudou is an isolated mountain range situated along the coastline at the western side of the Pearl River Estuary, and has been protected as a nature reserve since 2001. The summit, known as Shizitou, is 982 m a. s. l .. Original vegetation of the mountain range has been largely destroyed in the past. Currently it supports secondary forest at various successional stages, as well as shrubland and grassland; the stream valleys generally support more mature natural forest. The only specimen of the new species was found swimming in a small stream at night ca. 2145 h, which is shallow, rocky, and ca. 3 m wide, with young but closed-canopy natural forest. The stream drains pass Taishan City, Guangdong Province, before emptying into the Pearl River Delta.

A new species of the genus Opisthotropis Günther, 1872 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Guangdong Province, China

etymology

Etymology. We name this new species, “ laui ”, in honor of Michael Wai-Neng Lau from Hong Kong, in recognition of his long-term contribution to biodiversity, in particular herpetological research and conservation in Southern China. As common names we suggest “ Lau’s Mountain Stream Snake ” (English name), and “ Liu Shi Hou Leng She ” (Chinese name).

A new species of the genus Opisthotropis Günther, 1872 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Guangdong Province, China