Parafimbrios, Teynié, Alexandre, David, Patrick, Lottier, Anne, Le, Minh Duc, Vidal, Nicolas & Nguyen, Truong Quang, 2015

Teynié, Alexandre, David, Patrick, Lottier, Anne, Le, Minh Duc, Vidal, Nicolas & Nguyen, Truong Quang, 2015, A new genus and species of xenodermatid snake (Squamata: Caenophidia: Xenodermatidae) from northern Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Zootaxa 3926 (4), pp. 523-540 : 527

Parafimbrios gen. nov.

Type species. Parafimbrios lao spec. nov., herein described.

Diagnosis. A genus of Caenophidia, family Xenodermatidae , characterized by (1) maxillary teeth 27, progressively slightly enlarged posteriorly; (2) head not distinct from neck; (3) dorsal scales small, cycloid or subrectangular, with the correspondence of two dorsal scale rows per ventral plate throughout the body; (4) two consecutive scales of the first dorsal scale row enlarged; (5) rostral separated from internasals by a fold of skin, larger on the sides than above the middle of the rostral; (6) nostril piercing the anterior part of a large, concave nasal; (7) mental and both anterior supralabials and infralabials with strong, raised, everted edges; (8) eye with vertically elliptic pupil; (9) loreal single, large, extending from nasal to eye; (10) chin shields in a single pair, enlarged; (11) body moderately elongate; (12) ventrals large, rounded; (13) subcaudals undivided; (14) cloacal plate entire; and (15) hemipenis short, forked, distal half strongly spinose.

Although Parafimbrios gen. nov. shares morphological similarities with other members of the family Xenodermatidae , it is morphologically most similar to Fimbrios . Parafimbrios gen. nov. differs from Fimbrios by a combination of the five characters listed above, the most important being (1) the correspondence of two consecutive dorsal scale rows per ventral plate throughout the body, (2) fewer dorsal scale rows, and (3) posterior teeth progressively and slightly enlarged (vs. equal). Additional comparisons between the new genus and species and members of the genus Fimbrios are given below in the species description.

Distribution. Laos . Currently recorded from karst formations in Louangphabang and Houaphan provinces.

Etymology. The generic nomen Parafimbrios is composed of the modern Latin generic nomen Fimbrios and the Latin adjective par (paris), meaning, among other possibilities, “similar to”. The nomen Fimbrios itself stems from the Latin noun fimbria (- ae), meaning “a fringe”, by allusion to the edges of labial scales producing a kind of fringe around the snout. So, the generic nomen Parafimbrios refers to one of the diagnostic characters of Fimbrios , to which Parafimbrios gen. nov. is morphologically quite similar but taxonomically distinct.

Contents. The new genus currently contains a single species, Parafimbrios lao spec. nov., which we describe as: