First record of <i>Achalinus zugorum</i> Miller, Davis, Luong, Do, Pham, Ziegler, Lee, De Queiroz, Reynolds & Nguyen, 2020 from China (Serpentes, Xenodermidae), with updated diagnosis of this species.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The enigmatic odd-scaled snake Achalinus zugorum Miller, Davis, Luong, Do, Pham, Ziegler, Lee, De Queiroz, Reynolds & Nguyen, 2020, was described, based on only one male specimen from Ha Giang Province, northern Vietnam. To date, no other specimen was reported, except for the holotype and this species was considered to be endemic to Vietnam.

New information

Based on one specimen collected from Malipo County, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China, we provide the first record of Achalinus zugorum from China. The specimen from China agrees well with the original morphological description of the species and has a minor genetic distance of 2.9% in the COI gene with the type specimen of this species. This study reports the second specimen and the firs

SUBMITTER: Liu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12397766 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature