Protobothrops maolanensis YANG, ORLOV & WANG, 2011
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Protobothrops maolanensis
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| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Mao-lan pitviper Chinese: 茂兰原矛头蝮 |
| Synonym | Protobothrops maolanensis YANG, ORLOV & WANG 2011 Protobothrops maolanensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 573 Protobothrops cf. maolanensis — KROPACHEV et al. 2015 |
| Distribution | China (Guizhou, Guangxi), Vietnam (Ha Giang) Type locality: Maolan National Nature Reserve, Maolan town, Libo County, Guizhou, China (25°12'50.0'' N, 107°59'56.04'' E, 560 m elevation. |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: SYS r000211, adult male (Fig. 1 in YANG et al. 2011), collected by Sheng Zheng and Jian-Huan Yang on 18 May 2010. Paratypes. SYS r000210, adult male, same data as holotype. SYS r000276, adult male and SYS r000277, adult female, from the same locality as holotype, collected by Jian-Huan Yang, Yun Li and Run-Lin Li on 10 August 2010. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Protobothrops maolanensis sp. nov. differs from other species of Protobothrops by the combina- tion of the following characters: (1) a relatively small body size (TL 609–805 mm); (2) dorsal scales keeled throughout, in 23(rarely 25): 21(19): 17(15) rows; (3) ventral scales 186–193 in male, 190 in female; (4) subcau- dals 78–85 pairs in male, 74 in female; (5) 7–8 supralabials; (6) 11–12 infralabials; (7) 10–12 scales between mid- section of supraoculars in a line; (8) the 4th supralabials separated from suboculars by one row of scales; (9) 68–72 small and thin body bands across body and tail; (10) TaL/SVL ratio 0.238–0.269 in male, 0.190 in female; (11) SL/ HL ratio 0.308–0.326 in male, 0.344 in female; (12) ED/HL ratio 0.164–0.176 in male, 0.152 in female; and (13) the unique color pattern. See YANG et al. 2011 for differential diagnosis by way of comparison with all other species in the genus. |
| Comment | Chen et al. (2013) found specimens in Guangxi that are intermediary between Protobothrops maolanensis and P. trungkhanhensis. Distribution: see map in Guo et a. 2016: 383 (Fig. 1), Grassby-Lewis et al. 2025: 45 (Fig. 1). Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
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