Molecular phylogeny and morphological comparisons of the genus Hebius Thompson, 1913 (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae) uncover a new taxon from Yunnan Province, China, and support revalidation of Hebius septemlineatus (Schmidt, 1925)

Zool Res. 2021 Sep 18;42(5):620-625. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.093.

Abstract
in English, Chinese

We describe a new species of the genus Hebius and provide evidence for the validity of H. septemlineatuscomb. nov. Morphological and molecular analyses of Hebius specimens collected in Yunnan Province, China, revealed three distinct lineages, namely the newly described Hebius weixiensissp. nov., as well as H. octolineatus (Boulenger, 1904), and H. septemlineatuscomb. nov. (Schmidt 1925), which is removed from synonymy with H. octolineatus. Based on mitochondrial genealogy, Hebius weixiensissp. nov. is sister to H. septemlineatuscomb. nov., while H. octolineatus is sister to H. bitaeniatus. The new species and H. septemlineatuscomb. nov. showed considerable genetic divergence from their recognized congeners (uncorrected P-distance ≥3.9%). Furthermore, the new species and H. septemlineatuscomb. nov. can be diagnosed from closely related congeners by a combination of pholidosis characters.

东亚腹链蛇属的分类学研究近年来已取得较大进展，但部分物种或类群在分类界定上仍存在争议，亟待解决。基于分子系统学（cyt b 片段）和形态学比较分析，我们对2016–2020年间采集到的24条来自中国云南省的东亚腹链蛇属物种标本开展了研究。结果显示，云南省维西县的标本在形态和遗传上均与属内其它物种存在明显差异，我们将其描述为一新种——维西腹链蛇（ Hebius weixiensis sp. nov. ）。此外，比较研究显示，云南省腾冲市的“八线腹链蛇（H. octolineatum）”标本与来自昆明市的八线腹链蛇标本在形态特征和遗传分化方面均差异较大，通过与地模标本原始形态描述比较，将其恢复为腾冲腹链蛇（H. septemlineatacomb. nov.），确定了腾冲腹链蛇物种的有效地位。最后对云南省分布的腾冲腹链蛇和八线腹链蛇的形态特征及地理分布进行了厘定。

Keywords: Cryptic diversity; Morphology; Serpentes.

Publication types

  • Letter

MeSH terms

  • Animal Scales
  • Animals
  • China
  • Colubridae / anatomy & histology*
  • Colubridae / genetics*
  • Female
  • Male
  • Phylogeny*
  • Species Specificity

Associated data

  • GENBANK/MZ570478-MZ570490

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP) Program (2019QZKK0501), Biodiversity Survey and Assessment Project of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China (2019HJ2096001006), Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (XDA20050201), Digitalization, Development and Application of Biotic Resource (202002AA100007), Sciences and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (2020YFSY0033) and State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, CAS (GREKF 19-02), and Animal Branch of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, CAS (Large Research Infrastructure Funding)