First record of Scincellafansipanensis Okabe, Motokawa, Koizumi, Nguyen, Nguyen & Bui, 2024 (Squamata, Scincidae) from China.

ABSTRACT: The Fansipan ground skink, Scincellafansipanensis Okabe, Motokawa, Koizumi, Nguyen, Nguyen & Bui, was recently described from Fansipan Mountain, Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam. Herein, we report the first national record of this species from China, based on four specimens collected from Ailao Mountain, Jingdong Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. Morphologically, the Chinese specimens are consistent with the type series, but differ slightly in possessing a higher number of ventral scales (including gulars) and relatively shorter fore-limbs. Phylogenetic analyses, based on CO1 sequences, place the Chinese specimens within the S.fansipanensis clade; however, uncorrected p-distances of 6.5-7.3% between the Chinese and Vietnamese populations suggest moderate genetic divergence. This lev

SUBMITTER: Xu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12365676 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature