Achalinus mirabilis XU, HU, QI, MA, CHEN, ZHANG, ZHANG, SUN, ZHOU, XU, WANG & PENG, 2026
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Achalinus mirabilis
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| Higher Taxa | Xenodermidae, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Chinese common name“括苍山脊蛇 (Kuò Cāng Shān Jǐ Shé) English common name “Kuocang Moutain odd-scaled snake |
| Synonym | Achalinus mirabilis XU, HU, QI, MA, CHEN, ZHANG, ZHANG, SUN, ZHOU, XU, WANG & PENG 2026 |
| Distribution | China (Zhejiang Province: Kuocang Mountain range), elevation 163 - 879 m asl) Type locality: Kuocang Mountain, Youxi Town,Linhai City, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China(28.7149°N, 121.031°E, 202 m asl.). |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: QHU R2025051 (Field No.LFR 2025277), adult female, collected on August 17,2025 by J.H. Hu. Paratypes (N = 4) QHU R2025053 (Field No. LFR2025280), adult male, collected on October 17, 2025 byJ.H. Hu from Kuocang Mountain, Kuocang Town, LinhaiCity, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China (28.8151°N,120.9497°E, 853 m asl.); QHU R2025054 (Field No. LFR2025332), adult female, road-killed specimen, and SMNH20250126 (Field No. LFR 2025279), subadult male, bothcollected by J.H. Hu on September 26, 2025 from the Kuo-cang Mountain, Youxi Town, Linhai City, Taizhou City,Zhejiang Province, China (28.7299°N, 121.0467°E, 163 masl.); SYS r003125 (Field No. LFR 2024187), adult fe-male, road-killed specimen, collected by H.J. Chen and J.J.Zhou on October 18, 2024 from the Kuocang Mountain,Kuocang Town, Linhai City, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Prov-ince, China (28.7976°N, 120.9343°E, 879 m asl.). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: The new species Achalinus mirabilis sp. nov. is distinguished from all of its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: (1) size medium, with a maximum SVL of 270 mm in males and 332 mm in females; (2) tail relatively short, TAL/TL ratio 0.22 in males and 0.17–0.18 in females; (3) loreal scale absent; (4) length of suture between internasals substantially longer than that between prefrontals, LSBI/LSBP ratio 1.60–3.35; (5) dorsal scales strongly keeled, arranged in 23 rows throughout the body, with the outermost row also strongly keeled and substantially enlarged; (6) infralabials 6, with the anterior three or four in contact with the first pair of chin shields; (7) two pairs of chin shields; (8) maxillary teeth 27 based on the only counted female specimen; (8) ventral scales 163–166 in males and 174–178 in females; (9) subcaudals 64–68 in males and 53–56 in females, not paired; (10) in life, the dorsum is brown to dark brown with a slight metallic sheen, and the venter is uniformly light brown. (Xu 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 | Distribution: see Xu et al. 2026: Fig. 2. |
| Etymology | The specific epithet mirabilis represents aLatin adjective in nominative singular, meaning “marvel-ous” or “remarkable”, and is given in reference to the dis-tinctive morphology of this species within the genus Acha-linus. In addition, the discovery of a previously unrecordednew species in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, a highlyurbanized and economically developed region, was also un-expected. Based on its known distribution, Kuocang Moun-tain (Kuocangshan) in Linhai City, Taizhou City, ZhejiangProvince, China, we propose the Chinese common name“括苍山脊蛇” (Kuò Cāng Shān Jǐ Shé) and the Englishcommon name “Kuocang Moutain odd-scaled snake |
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