Calamaria incredibilis QI, NGUYEN, WANG, ZENG, SHI, XU, SONG, HUANG, MO, POYARKOV & WANG, 2026
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Calamaria incredibilis?
Calamaria incredibilis
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Calamariinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Guangxi Reed Snake |
| Synonym | Calamaria incredibilis QI, NGUYEN, WANG, ZENG, SHI, XU, SONG, HUANG, MO, POYARKOV & WANG 2026 |
| Distribution | China (Ningming County, Chongzuo City, and Lingui District, Guilin City, Guangxi) Type locality: Nazhi Village (那支村), Aidian Town, Ningming County, Chongzuo City, Guangxi ZAR, China (21.8597°N, 107.0169°E; altitude 1060 m asl). |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: SYS r002596, adult male, collected by Shuo Qi on 25 April 2021. Paratype (n = 1) GEP r093, adult male from Huaping National NR (花坪国家级自然保护区), Lingui District, Guilin City, Guangxi ZAR, China (25.6270°N, 109.9137°E; altitude 760 m asl), collected by Jian Wang, Zhao-Chi Zeng, and Hong-Hui Chen on 23 April 2025. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Calamaria incredibilis sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other congeners by the combination of the following morphological characters: nine enlarged maxillary teeth; rostral higher than wide; prefrontal shorter than frontal and contacting the first two supralabials; mental not in contact with anterior chin shields; dorsal scales in 13–13–13 rows, smooth throughout; a single preocular and postocular; four supralabials, with the 2nd and 3rd ones contacting the eye; five infralabials; six scales surrounding the paraparietal; 170–182 ventrals in males; 21–23 paired subcaudals in males; a relatively short tail (8.2–8.4% of total length in males), thick and nearly cylindrical, gradually tapering to an obtuse point; dorsal coloration brown, seven longitudinal series of interrupted dark brown stripes are visible along the body, extending from behind the collar to the tip of the tail; the margins of the dorsal scales are heavily suffused with black pigment, forming an almost reticulate pattern; the ventral surface yellowish white, with dark brown blotches along the outermost lateral margins; absence of light spots on the dorsal tail. (Qi et al. 2026) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about less than half a page) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet incredibilis is a Latin adjective meaning “unbelievable” or “extraordinary,” referring to the unexpectedly high level of cryptic diversity revealed by the discovery of this species, particularly in relation to closely allied taxa within theC.pavimentataspecies complex and their close geographic proximity. |
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