Plagiopholis acuta XU, MA & CAI, 2025
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Plagiopholis acuta
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Pseudoxenodontinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Hunan Mountain Snake Chinese: 湖南颈斑蛇 (Hú Nán Jǐng Bān Shé) |
| Synonym | Plagiopholis acuta XU, MA & CAI in CAI et al. 2025: 1782 |
| Distribution | China (Hunan) Type locality: Xinshao County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, China (27.4533°N, 111.7558°E, 530 m a.s.l.) |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. QHU 2024009, adult male, collected by the team of Lifang Peng in August 2024. Paratypes (n=2). QHU 2024010 (adult female), QHU 2024011 (adult male), with the same collected information as the holotype; QHU 2024044 (adult female) collected by the team of Lifang Peng in October 2024, from the same locality as the holotype. Other material examined (n=1). QHU 2024012, juvenile, an offspring hatched in captivity on 16 September, 2024, from the egg laid by the female specimen QHU 2024010. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (n=5). Plagiopholis acuta sp. nov. can be differentiated from other taxa in the genus Plagiopholis by the following combination: (1) no loreal, posterior nasal forming a suture with the single preocular; (2) two postoculars; (3) temporals 2+2 (rarely 2+1); (4) 6 (rarely 7) supralabials, the 3rd and 4th entering the eye; (5) 6 (rarely 5) infralabials; (6) maxillary teeth 17–18 in males and 15–17 in females; (7) dorsal scale smooth and rows 15-15-15; (8) ventral scales 114–115 in males and 115–121 in females; (9) anal entire; (10) subcaudal scales 29–30 in males and 24–25 in females; (11) longer tail length of 51– 52 mm (mean 51.5 mm) in males and shorter tail length of 25–43 mm (mean 34 mm) in females; (12) larger TAL/ SVL ratio of 0.18–0.19 (mean 0.19) in males and lower TAL/SVL ratio of 0.11–0.14 (mean 0.12) in females; (13) hemipenis half divided, bilaterally symmetrical, the truncus spinulate throughout; (14) a wide, black-brown blotch is present on the neck, often pentagonal or sub-annular shaped, across 4–6 dorsal scale rows; (15) dorsal surface of the body is brick-red, with some dorsal scale edges black, forming a faint reticulated pattern. (Cai et al. 2025) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 3512 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Distribution: for a map of localities see Cai et al. 2025: 1777 (Fig. 1). |
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