Dopasia formosensis (KISHIDA, 1930)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Dopasia formosensis?
Dopasia formosensis
We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Anguidae (Anguinae), Diploglossa, Anguimorpha, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Hart's Glass Lizard Chinese: 脆蛇蜥 |
| Synonym | Ophisaurus formosensis KISHIDA 1930 Ophisaurus harti — CHEN 1956 Ophisaurus harti — WANG & WANG 1956 Ophisaurus harti — CHEN 1969 Ophisaurus harti — LIU-YU 1970 Ophisaurus formosensis — LIU YU 1970 Ophisaurus harti — WANG & LIANG 1976 Ophisaurus harti — CHEN & YU 1984 Ophisaurus harti — LUE et al. 1987 Ophisaurus harti — LIN AND CHENG 1990 Ophisaurus harti — LUE 1990 Ophisaurus formosensis — ZHAO & ADLER 1993: 199 Ophisaurus harti — LUE et al. 1999 Ophisaurus harti — SHANG 2001 Ophisaurus harti — LUE et al. 2002 Ophisaurus harti — SHANG 2007 Ophisaurus harti — SHANG 2008 Ophisaurus harti — SHANG et al. 2009 Dopasia harti — LIN et al. 2026 Dopasia formosensis — LIN et al. 2026 |
| Distribution | Taiwan Type locality: Hinokiyama (=Kueishan), Bunzan-gori (= general area of Hsintien), Taihoku-shiu (=Taipei Co.), Taiwan Prov., China: 1,400 meters. Today the type locality is on the Fuba Cross-ridge Trail. Neotype locality: Mingchi; 24.6505°N, 121.4675°E, 1,133 m a.s.l. (~ 8 km to the south of the historical site) |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Neotype: NMNS 14488, adult male (National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Dopasia formosensis is a medium-sized, limbless anguid lizard. Snout- vent length of adult males ranging between 175–230 mm (mean ± SD = 200.7 ± 22.4 mm); of adult females between 171–231 mm (mean ± SD = 201.3 ± 30.0 mm) (Table 3, Suppl. material 1). Dopasia formosensis has the following combination of morphological characters: intact tail length relatively long, ranging 1.74–1.95 (1.83 ± 0.09) of SVL and ranging 0.63–0.66 (0.65 ± 0.01) total length (n = 6, specimens with intact tails only). The body cross-section is approximately quadrangular, with slight dorsoventral compression; body width always wider than body height, BW1/ BH1 ranging 1.00–1.32 at one-head length posterior of neck, BW2/BH2 1.01–1.22 at mid SVL, BW3/BH3 1.00–1.20 at one-head length anterior of cloaca, TW/TH 0.93–1.20 at one head-length posterior of cloaca (n = 14). Head relatively short compared to body length, HL/SVL 0.089–0.119; neck (could be defined as ear– fold distance) shorter than head, ErFD/SVL 0.065–0.103; head length longer than head width and head height, HW/HL 0.649–0.771, HH/HL 0.512–0.695 (n = 14 for the above measurements). External ear opening present but small, ear opening di- ameter (ErD) always smaller than nostril diameter (ND); eye subcircular to slightly oval in shape, moderate in size, EyS/HL 0.135–0.194; pupil round (Table 3). Scales on head, neck, and anterior part of the body smooth; weakly keeled pos- terior to midbody, and strongly keeled posterior to cloaca. Dorsal scales longitu- dinal (DSL) 117–123 (mean ± SD = 119.3 ± 2.1); ventral scales longitudinal (VSL) 120–130 (124.9 ± 3.0); scales along lateral fold (SLF) 97–101 (99.2 ± 1.3); dorsal scales rows (DSR) 14 (57%) or 16 (29%), occasionally 18 (14%; among examined individuals, with the following percentages having the same definition); ventral scale rows (VSR) 10; caudal scale rows (CR) 22 (43%) or 24 (50%), occasionally 23 (7%). Supranasals present, separated by suprarostrals and frontonasal; prefrontals two, either separated by frontonasal and frontal or in contact with each other; frontal elongated, length/width 1.062–1.554, in contact with prefron- tal anteriorly, with 1st to 3rd supraoculars laterally, with frontoparietals and inter- parietal posteriorly; frontoparietals two, separated by frontal and interparietal; interparietal large, diamond-shaped, in contact with frontal and frontoparietals anteriorly, with parietals laterally, with occipital scale posteriorly; parietals two, in contact posteriorly; enlarged occipital scale fan-shaped, could be distinguished by surrounding nuchals. Supraoculars generally five, occasionally four (7.1%); su- pralabials 11 (59%) or 10 (35%), occasionally 12 (6%); infralabials 10–13. Chin shields in four pairs, 1st and 2nd pairs in contact (Table 3, Suppl. material 1). Number of vertebrae from the atlas to the remnants of the hind limb 54–56, mean ± SD = 54.8 ± 0.8 (n = 14). For individuals with intact tail, number of ver- tebrae (caudal vertebrae included) range between 146 and 153 (150.0 ± 2.9) (n = 5) (Table 3, Suppl. material 2). (Lin 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 about 1.14 pages) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | Color plate 26H in Zhao & Adler 1993. Synonymy: O. formosensis has been synonymized with O. harti by LIN et al. (2003) although both may be considered as subspecies of harti: harti has blue dorsal markings, and formosensis has uniform dorsal coloration. However, in the molecular stufy of Lin et al., formosensis nested within harti. Lin et al. 2026 consider D. formosensis as a “distinct evolutionary lineage, pending a formal systematic revision of the genus”, but they treat it as full species. Lin et al. (2026) found that hainanensis is more closely related to harti, so if these two species are recognized, formosensis needs to be recognized as well in order to prevent a paraphyly. Limb morphology: Limbless. |
| Etymology | Named after Sir Robert Hart, First Baronet (1835-1911), a British consular and customs official in China who also is the central figure in Lloyd Lofthouse's historieal novel “My Splendid Concubine”. |
| References |
|
| External links |