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Issue: Vol. 5537 No. 3: 11 Nov. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-11-11
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5537.3.7
Page range: 407-423
Abstract views: 516
PDF downloaded: 187

A new species of the genus Scincella (Squamata: Scincidae) from Mount Fansipan, Hoang Lien Son Range, northwestern Vietnam

The Kyoto University Museum; Kyoto University; Kyoto 606–8501; Japan
The Kyoto University Museum; Kyoto University; Kyoto 606–8501; Japan
Department of Zoology; Graduate School of Science; Kyoto University; Sakyo-ku; Kyoto 606-8502; Japan
Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources; Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; Cau Giay; Hanoi 10072; Vietnam; Graduate University of Science and Technology; Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; Cau Giay; Hanoi 10072; Vietnam
Graduate University of Science and Technology; Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; Cau Giay; Hanoi 10072; Vietnam; Institute of Genome Research; Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; Cau Giay; Hanoi 10072; Vietnam
Institute of Genome Research; Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; Cau Giay; Hanoi 10072; Vietnam
Reptilia

Abstract

We describe a new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 from northwestern Vietnam, based on a new collection of ground skinks from Mount Fansipan of the Hoang Lien Son Range in Lao Cai Province. Scincella fansipanensis sp. nov. is distinguished from other Scincella species in the Indochina region and southern China by body size (SVL), separation of prefrontals, number of midbody scale rows, paravertebral scale rows, nuchals and subdigital lamellae on toe IV, separation of toe from finger when limbs are adpressed along the body, and dorsal color pattern. The new species is further distinguished from its congeners by uncorrected genetic distances of 14.60–21.41% (COI gene). The new species is currently known only from high elevation areas of Mt. Fansipan in Vietnam.

 

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