Multiple lines of evidence reveal a new species of Krait (Squamata, Elapidae, Bungarus) from Southwestern China and Northern Myanmar

Ze-Ning Chen; Sheng-Chao Shi; Gernot Vogel; Li Ding; Jing-Song Shi

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1025.62305

Multiple lines of evidence reveal a new species of Krait (Squamata, Elapidae, Bungarus) from Southwestern China and Northern Myanmar

Zookeys. 2021 Mar 18:1025:35-71. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1025.62305. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ze-Ning Chen^{1

2}, Sheng-Chao Shi¹, Gernot Vogel³, Li Ding¹, Jing-Song Shi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Chengdu China.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Rare and Endangered Animal Ecology, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi 541001, China Guangxi Normal University Guilin China.
³ Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology, Im Sand 3, Heidelberg D-69115, Germany Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology Heidelberg Germany.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China.

Abstract

Kraits of the genus Bungarus Daudin 1803 are widely known venomous snakes distributed from Iran to China and Indonesia. Here, we use a combination of mitochondrial DNA sequence data and morphological data to describe a new species from Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China: Bungarus suzhenae sp. nov. Phylogenetically, this species forms a monophyletic lineage sister to the Bungarus candidus/multicinctus/wanghaotingi complex based on cyt b and ND4 genes but forms a sister species pair with the species B. magnimaculatus Wall & Evans, 1901 based on COI gene fragments. Morphologically, B. suzhenae sp. nov. is similar to the B. candidus/multicinctus/wanghaotingi complex but differs from these taxa by a combination of dental morphology, squamation, coloration pattern, as well as hemipenial morphology. A detailed description of the cranial osteology of the new species is given based on micro-CT tomography images. We revised the morphological characters of B. candidus/multicinctus/wanghaotingi complex and verified the validity of three species in this complex. The distribution of these species was revised; the records of B. candidus in China should be attributed to B. wanghaotingi. We also provide an updated key to species of Bungarus.

Keywords: Bungarus suzhenae sp. nov.; cranial osteology; hemipenial morphology; micro-computed tomography; phylogeny; taxonomy.

Ze-Ning Chen, Sheng-Chao Shi, Gernot Vogel, Li Ding, Jing-Song Shi.

Grants and funding

This study is supported by Biodiversity Investigation, Observation and Assessment Program of Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (2019-2023) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20160103), the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP, Grant No. 2019QZKK05010503) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA23080101) to Jiang Jianping.