identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
D763557DF32650DEA4390F1FC35C578D.text	D763557DF32650DEA4390F1FC35C578D.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Hebius yangi Liu & Wang & Hou & Deng & Zhang & Wang & Rao 2026	<div><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov.</p><p>Figs 2, 3, 4</p><p>Type material.</p><p>Holotype. KIZ 2025058, adult male, collected on 3 May 2025 by local villagers from <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=104.80334&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=23.185276" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 104.80334/lat 23.185276)">Xiajinchang Township</a>, Malipo County, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China (23°11'7"N, 104°48'12"E; 1450 m a. s. l.) . Paratype. KIZ 2025175, adult male, collected on 2 November 2025 by local villagers from the same locality as the holotype .</p><p>Additional specimen.</p><p>KIZ 2025050, adult male, collected on 24 April 2025 by local villagers from the same locality as the holotype.</p><p>Diagnosis.</p><p>Body size relatively small, SVL 237–306 mm; tail moderately long, TaL / TL 0.32–0.33; dorsal scale rows 17-17 - 17, all keeled except the outermost rows; ventrals 130–131; subcaudals 80–85, paired; supralabials six, third and fourth entering orbit; infralabials seven; maxillary teeth 32–34, gradually enlarged posteriorly; dorsal surface grayish brown to blackish brown with a series of neatly arranged small orange spots on dorsolateral body on each side; ventral surface of head white, scattered with black streaks on scale sutures; iris brownish gray; lip region black and white alternately; neck collar present, discontinuous.</p><p>Etymology.</p><p>The specific epithet is in commemoration of the late renowned Chinese herpetological taxonomist Prof. Dr Datong Yang. We suggest “Yang’s Keelback” as the common English name and “杨氏腹链蛇” as the common Chinese name.</p><p>Description of holotype.</p><p>Relatively small in size, SVL 237 mm, TL 355 mm; body slender, tail moderately long, TaL / TL 0.33; head narrow and elongate, HL / HW 1.92, approximately trapezoidal, moderately distinct from neck; snout relatively short, length 1.5 times of horizontal diameter of eye, narrowing anteriorly, tip blunt in dorsal view and rounded in lateral view; canthus rostralis distinct; eyes relatively large, ratio of horizontal diameter of eye to head length 0.19, pupil round.</p><p>Rostral approximately rectangular, width 2.1 times of height, slightly visible from above; nasal large, polygonal, longer than high, divided into anterior and posterior sections, bordered by first two supralabials, rostral, internasal, and prefrontal; internasals two, approximately trapezoidal; prefrontals two, larger than internasals, visible in lateral view; frontal shield shaped, length 1.6 times of width; parietals large, elongate, medial suture length equal to length of frontal; one supraocular on each side, longer than wide; one loreal on each side, approximately square, not entering orbit; one preocular on each side, vertically elongate; subocular absent; two postoculars on each side, upper one slightly larger than lower one; one anterior temporal on each side, small; two posterior temporals, larger than anterior temporal; fifth supralabial in contact with parietal, anterior temporal not in contact with posterior temporals; six supralabials on each side, third and fourth entering orbit, fifth largest; seven infralabials on each side, first pair in contact with each other, first to fourth in contact with anterior chin shields, fourth and fifth in contact with posterior chin shields; posterior chin shields clearly longer than anterior chin shields.</p><p>Dorsal scales in 17-17 - 17 rows, all keeled except outermost row on each side, scales of outermost row on each side slightly enlarged, apical pits absent; ventrals 130, preceded by two preventrals; cloacal plate divided; subcaudals 85, paired.</p><p>Maxillary teeth 34, without diastema, gradually enlarged posteriorly.</p><p>Coloration of holotype in life.</p><p>Dorsal surface of head grayish brown; occipital region purplish brown; neck collar present, light orange, broken in middle, dividing into two disconnected parts on left and right; dorsal surface of body grayish brown anteriorly to blackish brown posteriorly, speckled with indistinct black blotches, a series of neatly arranged small orange spots on dorsolateral body on each side; dorsal surface of tail grayish black. Lateral surface of head brownish black; loreal region grayish white; iris brownish gray; lip region black and white alternately, first to fourth supralabials mostly white with wide black edges, fifth and sixth supralabials brownish black, each with a large black-edged elliptical white spot anteriorly. Ventral surface of head white with wide or narrow black streaks on scale sutures. Ventral surface of body creamy white with a series of black blotches on each side; lateral margins of ventrals light red anteriorly to gray posteriorly. Ventral surface of tail grayish white with black margins on each side.</p><p>Variation.</p><p>Measurements and scalation data for the two type specimens and the one additional specimen are summarized in Table 2. Both the other two specimens are very similar to the holotype in morphological characteristics and coloration, except that the fifth supralabial scale is not in contact with the parietal scale but separated by a temporal scale on each side, and the series of orange spots on the dorsolateral body is more indistinct in the paratype.</p><p>Comparisons.</p><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov. differs from H. andreae (Ziegler &amp; Le, 2006), H. bitaeniatus (Wall, 1925), H. boulengeri (Gressitt, 1937), H. celebicus (Peters &amp; Doria, 1878), H. clerki (Wall, 1925), H. concelarus (Malnate, 1963), H. craspedogaster (Boulenger, 1899), H. deschauenseei (Taylor, 1934), H. flavifrons (Boulenger, 1887), H. gilhodesi (Wall, 1925), H. groundwateri (Smith, 1922), H. igneus David, Vogel, Nguyen, Orlov, Pauwels, Teynié &amp; Ziegler, 2021, H. inas (Laidlaw, 1901), H. ishigakiensis (Malnate &amp; Munsterman, 1960), H. jingdongensis Ma, Shi, Ayi &amp; Jiang, 2023, H. johannis (Boulenger, 1908), H. kerinciensis (David &amp; Das, 2003), H. khasiensis (Boulenger, 1890), H. lacrima Purkayastha &amp; David, 2019, H. leucomystax (David, Bain, Nguyen, Orlov, Vogel, Vu &amp; Ziegler, 2007), H. metusia (Inger, Zhao, Shaffer &amp; Wu, 1990), H. miyajimae (Maki, 1931), H. modestus (Günther, 1875), H. ngoclinhensis Le, Phan, Nguyen, Murphy, Lam, Nguyen &amp; Che, 2026, H. octolineatus (Boulenger, 1904), H. optatus (Hu &amp; Zhao, 1966), H. parallelus (Boulenger, 1890), H. petersii (Boulenger, 1893), H. popei (Schmidt, 1925), H. pryeri (Boulenger, 1887), H. sanguineus (Smedley, 1932), H. sangzhiensis Zhou, Qi, Lu, Lyu &amp; Li, 2019, H. sarasinorum (Boulenger, 1896), H. septemlineatus (Schmidt, 1925), H. shantianfangi Liu, Wang, Hou, Zhang, Wang, Zong, Zhou, Rao, David &amp; Vogel, 2025, H. terrakarenorum Hauser, Smits &amp; David, 2022, H. vibakari (Boie, 1826), H. viperinus (Schenkel, 1901), H. vogeli Nguyen, Li, Huang, Han, Nguyen, Poyarkov, David &amp; Ren, 2025, H. weixiensis Hou, Yuan, Wei, Zhao, Liu, Wu, Shen, Chen, Guo &amp; Che, 2021, and H. yanbianensis Liu, Zhong, Wang, Liu &amp; Guo, 2018 by having 17 dorsal scale rows at midbody (vs 19 or 15).</p><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov. differs from H. annamensis (Bourret, 1934), H. chapaensis (Bourret, 1934), H. nigriventer (Wall, 1925), H. taronensis (Smith, 1940), H. venningi (Wall, 1910), and H. youjiangensis Yang, Xu, Wu, Gong, Huang &amp; Huang, 2023 by having a white venter (vs dark venter).</p><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov. differs from H. arquus (David &amp; Vogel, 2010) and H. citrinoventer Xu, Yang, Gong, Ouyang, Weng, Deng, Huang &amp; Peng, 2024 by having fewer ventrals (VEN ≤ 131 vs ≥ 146).</p><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov. differs from H. frenatus (Dunn, 1923) and H. sarawacensis (Günther, 1872) by having six supralabials (vs eight).</p><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov. differs from H. maximus (Malnate, 1962) and H. sauteri (Boulenger, 1909) by having more maxillary teeth (MT 32–34 vs 23–27).</p><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov. differs from H. atemporalis sensu stricto from northern Vietnam by having more subcaudal scales (SC 80–85 vs 63–79), more ventrals plus subcaudals (VEN + SC 210–215 vs 198–209), seven infralabials (vs six, rarely seven), one row of smooth dorsal scales on each side on anterior body (vs three to six rows), more maxillary teeth (MT 32–34 vs 27–30), a brownish gray iris (vs copper colored), a brown anterior body (vs brownish red), and a discontinuous neck collar (vs continuous) (Table 3).</p><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov. differs from H. malnatei by having smaller maximum SVL (Max SVL 306 mm vs 416 mm), a relatively longer tail (TaL / TL 0.32–0.33 vs 0.22–0.27), fewer ventrals (VEN 130–131 vs 146–156), more subcaudals (SC 80–85 vs 60–70), one row of smooth dorsal scales on each side on anterior body (vs six rows), more maxillary teeth (MT 32–34 vs 26–29), brownish gray iris (vs copper colored), and a light orange neck collar (vs no neck collar) (Table 3).</p><p>Hebius yangi sp. nov. differs from H. cf. atemporalis from southern China by having a relatively longer tail (TaL / TL 0.32–0.33 vs 0.29–0.30), fewer ventrals (VEN 130–131 vs 132–140), more subcaudals (SC 80–85 vs 69–74), more ventrals plus subcaudals (VEN + SC 210–215 vs 203–206), one row of smooth dorsal scales on each side on anterior body (vs three to six rows), brownish gray iris (vs copper colored), and a brown anterior body (vs brownish red) (Table 3).</p><p>Distribution.</p><p>The new species is currently known only from Malipo County, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China (Fig. 5).</p><p>Ecology notes.</p><p>One specimen was collected while it was traversing the road during the day, and the other two specimens were found dead on the road. There are evergreen broad-leaved forests and farmland on the sides of the road, and there is no water body nearby. More ecological information about this species is unknown.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/D763557DF32650DEA4390F1FC35C578D	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Liu, Shuo;Wang, JiShan;Hou, Mian;Deng, Tao;Zhang, Chaowu;Wang, Mo;Rao, Dingqi	Liu, Shuo, Wang, JiShan, Hou, Mian, Deng, Tao, Zhang, Chaowu, Wang, Mo, Rao, Dingqi (2026): A new species of the Hebius atemporalis complex (Squamata, Natricidae) from southeastern Yunnan, China. ZooKeys 1289: 141-157, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1289.189681
