Pareas macularius Theobald, 1868

Pareas macularius Theobald, 1868 View in CoL

Spotted Slug Snake ( Fig. 10A View Fig )

One adult individual of P. macularius was observed by P. Brakels, P. Pawangkhanant, S. Idiiatullina, and T. V. Nguyen on 17 July 2019 in Longcheng District site 1, Xaisomboun Province ( 19°00.983’N, 102°59.645’E; elevation 1,370 m asl) GoogleMaps . Two subadults were observed by N. Maury and P. Brakels on 24–25 October 2019 in Paksong (2) District , Champasak Province (near 15°11.178’N, 106°15.716’E; elevation 1,350 m asl) GoogleMaps .

Morphological characters of the individuals from Xaisomboun and Champasak provinces agreed well with the descriptions of Teynié and David (2010) and Hauser (2017). The photographed individual ( Fig. 10A View Fig ) agrees with the diagnosis of P. macularius in the following characters: body small-sized, slender, laterally compressed; head elongate, distinct from neck; eye size medium; pupil vertical; loreal present, not entering the orbit; 1 preocular; 1 postoculars; 1 crescent–like subocular; 1 anterior temporal; 2 posterior temporals; 7 supralabials, 1 st and 2 nd in contact with nasal, 2 nd in contact with loreal, 3 rd –5 th supralabials in contact with suboculars, not contacting the eye, 7 th largest; prefrontals in contact with eye; mental groove absent; upper dorsal scale rows slightly keeled; anterior vertebral scales slightly enlarged; ventrals 156; cloacal undivided; subcaudals 44, divided. Coloration of dorsum dark grayish-brown with irregular black or white spots localized always on single scales; nuchal region with and grayish-white “W-shaped” marking sparsely speckled with brown; ventral surfaces cream with dense speckling and few larger blotches; iris dark.

Ecological notes. The individual at Xaisomboun Province was found at 2300 h crossing the mountain dirt road. The surrounding habitat was secondary montane evergreen forest. The first individual from Champasak Province was found on a path in a coffee plantation at ca. 1830 h and the second individual was found in a patch of secondary mixed evergreen forest along a coffee plantation at ca. 1900 h.

Distribution. In Laos, this species has been previously recorded from Phongsali and Houaphan provinces ( Hauser 2017). These are the first records from Xaisomboun and Champasak provinces. Elsewhere, this species has been reported from China, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand ( Uetz et al. 2020).