Trimeresurus pretiosus XU, NGUYEN, WANG, ZHANG, POYARKOV, WEI, VOGEL, PENG & WENG, 2025
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Trimeresurus pretiosus
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| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Crotalinae, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Yadong Green Pit Viper Chinese: 亚东竹叶青蛇 (Yă Dōng Zhú Yè Qīng Shé) Vietnamese: Rắn lục xanh báu vật |
| Synonym | Trimeresurus pretiosus XU, NGUYEN, WANG, ZHANG, POYARKOV, WEI, VOGEL, PENG & WENG in XU et al. 2025 |
| Distribution | China (Xizang) Type locality: Xiayadong Township, Yadong County, Xigaze City, Xizang Autonomous Region, China (27.262° N, 89.016° E; elevation 1824 m a.s.l.), |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. QHU R2025019, adult male, collected by Zhenqi Wang, Yuhao Xu, Fanyue Sun, and Lifang Peng on 22 June 2025. Paratypes (n = 2). QHU R2025020 (adult male) and QHU R2025021 (adult female), collected by Zhenqi Wang, Yuhao Xu, Fanyue Sun, and Lifang Peng on 23 June, with the same collection information as the holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Trimeresurus pretiosus sp. nov. is distinguished from all of its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: (1) first supralabial completely separated from nasal scale; (2) hemipenis short and spinose, reaching 12th subcaudal when fully everted; (3) adult body size relatively small, with a maximum known snout-vent length of 516 mm in males and 512 mm in females; (4) dorsal scales in 19–19–15 rows, weakly keeled except for the outermost rows; (5) 140–143 ventral scales; (6) 56–58 subcaudal scales in males and 54 in females, partially arranged in a single row; (7) iris reddish-brown in males, orange-yellow in females; (8) body uniformly bright grass-green; postocular streak absent or faint white in males, absent in females; (9) ventrolateral stripe consisting of red above and white below and wide in males; white only and narrow in females; (10) ventral surfaces greenish-yellow; (11) tail distinctly reddish-brown dorsally, with the colouration extending from tail base to tail tip. (Xu 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 5776 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Abundance: although herpetologists have conducted numerous field surveys in Yadong County, Xizang AR, China, for several decades, no green pit viper has ever been recorded from the area until now. Distribution: The new species represents the currently known westernmost distribution of the subgenus Viridovipera and is extremely rare in the wild. Therefore, through the specific epithet, we hope to raise awareness not only of the new species but also of the rich biodiversity of Yadong County, thereby promoting greater attention to and protection of its unique ecological environment. |
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