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Issue: Vol. 1973 No. 1: 9 Jan. 2009
Type: Article
Published: 2009-01-09
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1973.1.4
Page range: 51–60
Abstract views: 32
PDF downloaded: 1

Morphological variation in Thermophis Malnate (Serpentes: Colubridae), with an expanded description of T. zhaoermii

Department of Life Sciences and Food Engineering, Yibin University, Yibin 644000, China
Sichuan Academy of Forest, Chengdu 610066, China
Department of Life Sciences and Environment Sciences, Huangshan University, Huangshan 245041, China
College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
Sichuan Academy of Forest, Chengdu 610066, China
The Central University for Nationalities, Beijing 100081, China
Chengdu Institute of Biology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
Reptilia China morphology snakes systematics Thermophis

Abstract

The colubrid snake genus Thermophis is endemic to higher altitudes on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau of China. It has been little studied and remains poorly understood. Until Guo et al.’s (2008) description of T. zhaoermii, Thermophis had been monotypic, containing only T. baileyi (Wall 1907). Here, a detailed comparison of external characters, skull and hemipenial morphology in T. baileyi and T. zhaoermii is presented. Both species are sexually dimorphic, and clearly distinct from one another in external, skull and hemipenial characters. An expanded characterization of the recently d e s c r i b e d z h a o e r m i i is provided. Key words: China, morphology, snakes, systematics, Thermophis

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