Abstract
A new species of pitviper, Protobothrops maolanensis sp. nov. is described from the forested karst region in Maolan National Nature Reserve, Guizhou, China based on scalation, body proportions and color pattern. Data on the natural history of the new species are provided and a new key to the currently recognized species of Protobothrops is given. The new discovery and other recent findings suggest that further research is desirable in the karst regions in southern China and adjacent Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.References
Boulenger, G.A. (1896) Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Vol. 3, containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae, and Viperidae. London, England, Taylor and Francis for Trustees, 727 pp.
Bourret, R.L. (1936) Les serpentes de l'Indochine. Toulouse, France, Henri Basuyau and Cie, Tome 2, Catalogue systematique descriptif, 505 pp.
David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les serpents venimeux du monde: systématique et répartition. Dumerilia, 3, 3–499.
David, P., Vogel, G., Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vidal, N. (2002) Description of a New Species of the Genus Trimeresurus from Thailand, related to Trimeresurus stejnegeri Schmidt, 1925 (Serpentes, Crotalidae). The Natural History Journal of Chulalongkorn University, 2(1), 5–19.
David, P., Tong, H., Vogel, G. & Tian, M. (2008) On the status of the Chinese pitviper Ceratrimeresurus shenlii Liang and Liu in Liang, 2003 (Serpentes, Viperidae), with the addition of Protobothrops cornutus (Smith, 1930) to the Chinese snake fauna. Asiatic Herpetological Research, 11, 17–23.
Dowling, H.G. (1951) A proposed standard system of counting ventrals in snakes. British Journal of Herpetology, 1, 97–99.
Grismer, L.L., Viets, B.E. & Boyle, L.J. (1999) Two new continental species of Goniurosaurus (Squamata: Eublepharidae) with a phylogeny and evolutionary classification of the genus. Journal of Herpetology, 33, 382–393.
Grismer, L.L., Grismer, J.L. & McGuire, J.A. (2006) A new species of pitviper of the genus Popeia (Squamata: Viperidae) from Pulau Tioman, Pahang, West Malaysia. Zootaxa, 1305, 1–19.
Grismer, L.L., Ngo, V.T. & Grismer, J.L. (2008) A new species of insular pitviper of the genus Cryptelytrops (Squamata: Viperidae) from southern Vietnam. Zootaxa, 1715, 57–68.
Gumprecht, A., Tillack, F., Orlov, N.L., Captain, A. & Ryabov, S. (2004) Asian Pitvipers. GeitjeBooks, Berlin, 368 pp.
Guo, P. & Zhao, E.M. (2006) Comparison of skull morphology in nine Asian pit vipers (Serpentes: Crotalinae). Herpetological Journal, 16, 305–313.
Guo, P., Pang, J.F., Zhang, Y.P. & Zhao, E.M. (2006) A re-analysis of the phylogeny of the genus Protobothrops (Reptilia: Viperidae), with particular reference to the systematic position of P. xiangchengensis. Amphibia-Reptilia, 27, 433–439.
Guo, P., Malhotra, A., Li, P.P., Pook, C.E. & Creer, S. (2007) New evidence on the phylogenetic position of the poorly known Asian pitviper Protobothrops kaulbacki (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae) with a redescription of the species and a revision of the genus Protobothrops. Herpetological Journal, 17, 237–246.
Guo, P., Malhotra, A., Li, C., Creer, S., Pook, C.E. & Wen, T. (2009) Systematics of the Protobothrops jerdonii complex (Serpentes, Viperidae, Crotalinae). Herpetological Journal, 19, 85–96.
Herrmann, H.-W., Ziegler, T., Malhotra, A. & Thorpe, R.S. (2004) Redescription and systematics of Trimeresurus cornutus (Serpentes: Viperidae) based on morphology and molecular data. Herpetologica, 60, 211–221.
Hoge, A.R. & Romano-Hoge, S.A.L.W.L. (1983) Notes on micro and ultrastructure of “Oberhӓutschen” in Viperoidea. Memorias do Instituto Butantan, Sao Paulo, 44/45, 81–118.
Maki, M. (1931) A Monograph of the Snakes of Japan. Dai-ichi Shobo. Tokyo. 240 pp.
Malhotra, A. & Thorpe, R.S. (2004) A phylogeny of four mitochondrial gene regions suggests a revised taxonomy for Asian pit vipers (Trimeresurus and Ovophis). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 32, 83–100.
Malhotra, A., Creer, S., Pook, C.E. & Thorpe, R.S. (2010) Inclusion of nuclear intron sequence data helps to identify the Asian sister group of New World pitvipers of New World pitvipers. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 54, 172–178.
Orlov, N.L., Ananjeva, N.B., Barabanov, A.V., Ryabov, S.A. & Khalikov, R.G. (2002) Diversity of vipers (Azemiopinae, Crotalinae) in East, Southeast, and South Asia: Annotated checklist and natural history data (Reptilia: Squamata: Serpentes: Viperidae). Faunistische Abhandlungen Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden, 23, 177–218.
Orlov, N.L., Ryabov, S.A., Nguyen, V.S. & Nguyen, Q.T. (2003) New records and data on the poorly known snakes of Vietnam. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 10, 217–240.
Orlov, N.L., Ryabov, S.A., Bui, N.T. & Ho T.C. (2004) New species of Trimeresurus (Ophidia: Viperidae: Crotalidae) from karst region in Central Vietnam. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 11, 139–150.
Orlov N.L., Ryabov, S.A., Nguyen, T.T., Nguyen, Q.T. & Ho, T.C. (2008) A new species of Goniurosaurus (Sauria: Gekkota: Eublepharidae) from North Vietnam. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 15, 198–213.
Orlov, N.L., Ryabov, S.A. & Nguyen, T.T. (2009) Two new species of genera Protobothrops Hoge et Romano-Hoge, 1983 and Viridovipera Malhotra et Thorpe, 2004 (Ophidia: Viperidae: Crotalinae) from karst region in northeastern Vietnam. Part I. Description of a new species of Protobothrops Genus. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 16, 69–82.
Orlov, N.L., Murphy, R.W. & Ananjeva, N.B. (2010) Karst pitvipers: natural history and morphological correlations. Abstracts book of Int. meeting Biology of the Vipers—3rd Conference Calci (Pisa, Italy, March 31th–April 2nd), p.13–14.
Pope, C.H. (1935) The reptiles of China. Turtles, crocodilians, snakes, lizards. Natural History of Central Asia. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Vol.10. 604 pp.
Sanders, K.L., Malhotra, A., Gumprecht, A., Thorpe, R.S. & Kuch, U. (2004) Popeia inornata, A new species of pitviper from west Malaysia. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 11 (3), 171–184.
Smith, M.A. (1943) Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. 3. Serpentes. In The fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, including the whole of the Indo-Chinese sub-region. London, England, Taylor and Francis. 583 pp.
Stejneger, L.H. (1907) Herpetology of Japan and adjacent territory. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, 58, 1–577.
Tillack, F., Ziegler, T. & Le, K.Q. (2004) Eine neue Art der Gattung Boiga Fitzinger, 1826 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Colubrinae) aus dem zentralen Vietnam. Sauria, 26, 3–12.
Vu, N.T., Nguyen, Q.T., Grismer, L.L. & Ziegler, T. (2006) First Record of the Chinese Leopard Gecko, Goniurosaurus luii (Reptilia: Eublepharidae) from Vietnam. Current Herpetology, 25(2), 93–95.
Wang, Y.Y., Yang J.H. & Cui R.F. (2010) A new species of Goniurosaurus (Squamata: Eublepharidae) from Yingde, Guangdong Province, China. Herpetologica, 66, 208–219.
Zhao, E.M. (2006) Snakes of China. Anhui Science and Technology Publishing House, Hefei. (In Chinese) 369 pp.
Zhao, E.M. & Adler, K. (1993) Herpetology of China. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Oxford, Ohio, 521 pp.
Zhao, E.M., Huang, M.H., Zong, Y., Zheng, J., Huang, Z.J., Yang, D. & Li, D.L. (eds.) (1998) Fauna Sinica: Reptilia. Vol. 3, Squamata Serpentes. Science Press, Beijing (in Chinese) 522 pp.
Zhou, F. & Jiang, A.W. (2008) A new species of babbler (Timaliidae: Stachyris) from the Sino-Vietnamese border region of China. The Auk, 125, 420–424.
Ziegler, T. & Nguyen, T.Q. (2010) New discoveries of amphibians and reptiles from Vietnam. Bonn zoological Bulletin, 57, 137–147.
Ziegler, T., Herrmann, H.-W., David, P., Orlov, N.L. & Pauwels, O.S.G. (2000) Triceratolepidophis sieversorum, a new genus and species of pitviper (Reptilia: Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae) from Vietnam. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 7, 199–214.
Ziegler, T., Herrmann, H.-W., Vu, N.T., Le, K.Q., Nguyen, T.H., Cao, X.C., Luu, M.T. & Dinh, H.T. (2004) The amphibians and reptiles of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. Hamadryad, 28, 19–42.
Ziegler, T., Hendrix, R., Vu, N.T., Vogt, M., Forster, B. & Dang, N.K. (2007) The diversity of a snake community in a karst forest ecosystem in the central Truong Son, Vietnam, with an identification key. Zootaxa, 1493, 1–40.