Dendrelaphis vogeli, Jiang & Ren & Guo & Wang & Ding & Li, 2020

Dendrelaphis vogeli sp. nov. Jiang, Guo, Ren & Li

( Figs. 5–7 View FIGURE 5 View FIGURE 6 View FIGURE 7 )

Holotype: CIB 110716 (field number YN2018425), adult male, collected by Junfeng Guo, Ke Jiang and Zhongxiong Fu from Menglun, Xishuangbanna, southern Yunnan, China in May 2018.

Paratypes: CIB 116817 (field number LAB-BN2019010), subadult male, collected from the same locality as holotype in May 2019 ; CIB 116101 (field number BN20190801), adult male, collected from the same locality as the holotype in July 2019 .

Diagnosis. 1) Ground color of body bronze, a black postocular stripe extending onto the neck only; 2) pale and dark ventrolateral stripe absent; 3) relatively indistinct transverse bands on anterior part of lateral body; 4) loreal single; 5) vertebral scales strongly enlarged; 6) dorsal scale rows 15-15-11, all smooth; 7) ventrals 193–197, subcaudals 130–135, paired; 8) SVL/TOL ratio 0.292 –0.301; 9) supralabials 9, 4th through 6th touching the eye; 10) the outermost row of dorsal scales the same color as other dorsal scales; 11) retracted hemipenis extending to the 6–7th subcaudal scales.

Etymology. The specific epithet “ vogeli ” is named after Mr. Gernot Vogel (Heidelberg, Germany), for his excellent contributions to the taxonomy of the genus Dendrelaphis . He and his collaborators published a series of articles to resolve taxonomic problems in this genus and described several new species. We suggest Vogel’s Bronzeback as its English common name, and “Wo Shi Guo Shu She ( ÃKḦnjẘ)” as its Chinese common name.

Description of holotype. Body elongate, cylindrical and slender; head oval in dorsal view, depressed, distinct from neck; snout rounded, snout 1.5 times longer than the eye diameter; nostril rounded and small; eye large (ED/ HL=0.214), pupil rounded; tail relatively long (TAL/TOL=0.292), tapering progressively to a point.

Measurements. SVL: 715 mm; TAL: 295 mm; TOL: 1010 mm; other measurements see table 4.