The hot-spring snakes,Thermophis, were previously known only from the Tibet Autonomous Region and Western Sichuan, China. During the past two years, three adult hot-spring snakes （2 females, 1 male） were sampled in ...The hot-spring snakes,Thermophis, were previously known only from the Tibet Autonomous Region and Western Sichuan, China. During the past two years, three adult hot-spring snakes （2 females, 1 male） were sampled in Shangri-La, northern Yunnan, China, thus expanding their known distribution region towards the southeast. This site is the southeastern-most corner of the Tibetan Plateau and the southernmost tip of the Hengduan Mountains （Mts.）. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial （mt） and nuclear （n） DNA segments suggested that the three specimens belong to the genus ofThermophis. Morphologically, the new species is more similar toT. zhaoermii. However, it is distinguished fromT.zhaoermiiin the number of maxillary teeth （15）, distance between the two eyes/head width, rostral width/height, mental width/height, in one character limited to female： head width/length, and in four characters restricted to male： occurrence of the reduction from 10 to 8 （8 to 6, 6 to 4） scales in each dorsal row on the tail. There are differences in morphology, genetics （mtDNA, nDNA）, and geography between the putative new species andT.zhaoermii,the new species meets our proposed eclectic and feasible ＂four-differences＂ rule.展开更多
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31471968, 31090250, 31372152)supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST Grant 2011FY120200)+5 种基金the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS KSCX2EW-Z-2 KSCX2-EW-Q-9)the Bureau of Science and Technology of Yunnan Province to ZYPthe Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD)the Department of education of Sichuan Province (13TD0027)
文摘The hot-spring snakes,Thermophis, were previously known only from the Tibet Autonomous Region and Western Sichuan, China. During the past two years, three adult hot-spring snakes （2 females, 1 male） were sampled in Shangri-La, northern Yunnan, China, thus expanding their known distribution region towards the southeast. This site is the southeastern-most corner of the Tibetan Plateau and the southernmost tip of the Hengduan Mountains （Mts.）. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial （mt） and nuclear （n） DNA segments suggested that the three specimens belong to the genus ofThermophis. Morphologically, the new species is more similar toT. zhaoermii. However, it is distinguished fromT.zhaoermiiin the number of maxillary teeth （15）, distance between the two eyes/head width, rostral width/height, mental width/height, in one character limited to female： head width/length, and in four characters restricted to male： occurrence of the reduction from 10 to 8 （8 to 6, 6 to 4） scales in each dorsal row on the tail. There are differences in morphology, genetics （mtDNA, nDNA）, and geography between the putative new species andT.zhaoermii,the new species meets our proposed eclectic and feasible ＂four-differences＂ rule.
