Gloydius brevicauda ( Stejneger, 1907 )

Gloydius brevicauda ( Stejneger, 1907) View in CoL

Fig. 8 View Figure 8

Referred specimen.

Voucher 19 GNK 003, deposited in Nanjing Forestry University, PR China.

Identification.

The species-level identification of the specimen is based on diagnostic scalations, coloration, multivariate morphological analyses, comparisons to the live individuals of the same species (Fig. 1 C, D View Figure 1 ), and corroborated by molecular analyses.

Color in preservation.

The original body coloration typical of G. brevicauda is largely intact, with some discoloration in the posterior 2 / 3 of the specimen. The dorsal coloration is greyish-brown, with conspicuous circular patterns present along the length of the body. When viewed from the lateral side, conspicuous black postocular bands are present. The supra- and infralabials are cream-colored, with the first four infralabials and the last three supralabials on each side of the head having black markings. The ventral side of the head is mottled with black markings. The anterior ventrals are mostly cream-colored with black mottled patterns. The black coloration on the ventrals expands gradually toward the posterior half of the body, where the ventral scales are almost entirely black with some white mottling.

Scalation and morphology.

Supralabials 7 / 7 (left / right). Infralabials 10 / 10 (left / right). Midbody dorsal scale rows 21. Ventral scales 144. Subcaudal scales 32. The following morphological measurements are given in millimeters (mm). TOL 474 mm. SVL 426 mm. TAL 48 mm. HL 28.2 mm. HW 15.4 mm. HH 9.2 mm. ED 3.5 mm. IOD 10.2 mm.