Asian Herpetological Research 2013, 4(2): 109–115DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1245.2013.00109

1. Introduction

The genus Protobothrops was formally described in 1983 by Hoge & Romano-Hoge for a group of slender, brownish, ground living pitvipers, and it was previously included in the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804. When described, only 3 species were placed in the genus Protobothrops. Since then, some new species were described, namely, Protobothrops xiangchengensis (Zhao et al., 1978), P. mangshanensis (Zhao and Chen, 1987), and P. sieversorum (Ziegler, Herrmann, David, Orlov

A New Species of the Genus Protobothrops (Squamata: Viperidae) from Southern Tibet, China and Sikkim, India

Hujun PAN1, 5*, Basundhara CHETTRI2*, Daode YANG1, Ke JIANG3, Kai WANG4, Liang ZHANG5** and Gernot VOGEL6**

1 Institute of Wildlife Conservation, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, Hunan, China.

2 School of Policy Planning and Studies, Sikkim University, Gangtok 737102, Sikkim, India.3 State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, and Yunnan Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Domestic

Animals, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, Yunnan, China.4 Washington State University, 99163 Pullman, Washington, USA5 Guangdong Entomological Institute & South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou 510260, Guangdong,

China.6 Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology, Im Sand 3, D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.** Corresponding authors: Gernot VOGEL from the Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology, Heidelberg, Germany; and Liang ZHANG from South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangdong, China, with their research focusing on herpetofauna in southeastern Asian and southern China.E-mail: Gernot.Vogel@t-online.de (Gernot VOGEL); vampire_cn@163.com (Liang ZHANG)Received: 27 February 2013 Accepted: 11 May 2013

and Pauwels, 2000), although the generic positions of the last two species are still unclear. Subsequently, P. cornutus (Smith, 1930) was added to this genus as well (Herrmann et al., 2004). Recently, three new species have been described from China and Vietnam, that is, P. trungkhanhensis Orlov, Ryabov and Nguyen, 2009, P. maolanensis Yang, Orlov and Wang, 2011, and P. dabieshanensis Huang, Pan, Han, Zhang, Hou, Yu, Zhang and Zhang, 2012. Currently there are 12 valid species in the genus, of which seven are known to inhabit China, and many of the species in China prefer mountain areas at relatively high elevations.

Protobothrops kaulbacki (Smith, 1940) and P. jerdonii (Günther, 1875) are known to inhabit the Himalayan Range. Herein, we report another species in the genus from the Himalayan region, which occurs in Tibet, China, Sikkim, India and Bhutan.

Keywords new species, Protobothrops, Viperidae, Squamata, Himalayan region

Abstract A new species of the genus Protobothrops Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1983, was described from Jilong County, southern Tibet, China, and Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India. It differs from congeners by the following characters: 1) relatively large body size (total length up to 1510 mm); 2) dorsal scale rows 25–25–19; 3) except for the smooth outermost row, dorsal scales are weakly keeled; 4) relatively high number of ventral (198–216) and subcaudal (65–76 pairs) scales; 5) 7–8 supralabials; 6) 11 to 13 infralabials; 7) dorsal head uniform dark brown, laterally a reddish-brown obscure postocular streak; 8) dorsum of trunk and tail olive, with distinct black edged red brown transverse bands across the body and tail; and 9) eye from bright brown and reddish brown to mildly brown. The new species was also observed from the Haa Valley in western Bhutan.

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2. Material and Methods

Two specimens of the new species were collected from Jilong County of southern Tibet, China, and one specimen from Sikkim, India. All of them were designated as members of the type series. The specimens were fixed and deposited in 75% ethanol.

All measurements were made with a slide-caliper to the nearest 0.1 mm, except for the snout-vent length (SVL) and tail length (TAL), which were made with a flexible ruler to the nearest 1 mm. The total length (TL) was obtained by summing the SVL and TAL. The following abbreviations for morphological characters are used: head length (HL, from the tip of snout to the posterior margin of mandible); head width (HW, at the widest part of head); eye horizontal diameter (ED); supralabials (SL); infralabials (IL); dorsal scale rows (DSR); anterior part of dorsal scale rows (ASR, about one head length behind the head); middle part of dorsal scale rows (MSR); posterior part of dorsal scale rows (PSR, about one head length before the vent); and ventral (VEN). The number of ventralscales was counted according to Dowling (1951a), scale reduction formula is done according to Dowling (1951b). The dorsal scale rows were counted at one head length behind the head, at midbody, and at one head length anterior to the vent. The terminal scute was not included in the number of subcaudal scales count. Values for paired head characters are given in left/right order. Other abbreviations are also provided: CAS (California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, USA); KIZ (Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China); and ZSI (Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India). Additionally, two specimens of Protobothrops kaulbacki from KIZ (KIZ 011065) and CAS (CAS 224430) were examined, with the exception of P. kaulbacki, all the species for comparison are mainly based on the descriptions in literature (Gumprecht et al., 2004; Orlov et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2011; Zhao, 2006; Zhao et al., 1998).

3. Results

3.1 DescriptionProtobothrops himalayanus sp. nov.Holotype: KIZ 012736 (Figure 1), an adult female from the Jilong Valley, Jilong County, southern Tibet, China (85.35360° E, 28.37996° N; elevation 2708 m), collected by Kai WANG and Hujun PAN on 14 June 2012, and deposited in KIZ.Paratypes: JL 20120614-001, an adult female from the

same locality as the holotype, a road killed specimen, collected by Hujun PAN on 23 May 2012, and deposited in South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou, China; ZSI 25990 (Figure 2), an adult male from Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India, collected by Basundhara CHETTRI on 16 August 2008, and deposited in ZSI, Kolkata, India. Diagnosis: This new species is assigned to the genus Protobothrops on the basis of the following characters: 2 large solenoglyph teeth and a loreal pit; dorsal head covered with very small scales; body and tail elongated, thin and cylindrical; DSR 25 at midbody, keeled except the outermost; and distinct transverse bands found across body and tail (Hoge and Romano-Hoge, 1983).

Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov. differs from other species of Protobothrops by the following characters: 1) relatively large body size (TL up to 1510 mm ); 2) DSR 25–25–19; 3) with the exception of the smooth outermost row, dorsal scales are weakly keeled; 4) relatively high number of ventral (198–216) and subcaudal scales (65–76 pairs); 5) 7–8 supralabials; 6) 11 to 13 infralabials; 7) dorsal head uniform dark brown, laterally a reddish-brown obscure postocular streak, starting behind the eye; 8) dorsal body and tail olive, with distinct black edged red brown transverse bands across the body and tail; and 9) eye found from bright brown and reddish brown to mildly brown.Etymology: The specific epithet is derived from the mountain range, the Himalayas. All of the current known distribution localities are on the southern slope of the Himalayas. The suggested English name is the Himalayan Pitviper, and the Chinese name is Xi Shan Yuan Mao Tou Fu.Description of holotype: An adult female, with detailed measurements listed in Table 1. Body size large (SVL 952 mm, TAL 166 mm), elongated, thin and cylindrical; head triangular and elongated, 0.58 times wider than long, and distinct from the neck; dorsal head covered with very small, convex and irregular shaped smooth scales; and eye convex, pupil vertical; rostral triangular and small, slightly visible from above; internasal scales contact each other, and with the rostral; nasal trapezoidal, undivided, with a large round nostril opening centrally; two canthal scales between the supraocular and internasal, with the posterior one being very small; one loreal present on each side; supraocular large and elongate; two elongate upper-preoculars present above the loreal pit, forming the upper margin of the loreal pit, and the lower one wider and slightly longer than the upper; one elongate lower-preocular forming the lower margin of the loreal pit; 2/3

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small postocular scales; one elongate, thin, crescent-shaped subocular separated from the lower preocular by one small scale; temporals numerous, all smooth; 7/7 supralabials, with the second one forming the anterior margin of the loreal pit and separated from the nasal by one small scale, the third largest, the third and fourth separated from subocular by one row of scales; 13/12

infralabials, the first pair in contact with each other, the first two in contact with anterior chin shield; posterior chin shield short, thinner and smaller than anterior chin shield.

The dorsal scales narrow, in 25 rows at anterior body, 25 rows at midbody, 19 rows at posterior body; at midbody, dorsal scales are weakly keeled, except for the lateralmost row which is smooth; ventral scales 205, plus 2 preventrals; anal entire; and subcaudal scales divided, in 71 pairs. Scale reduction formula is given below:

5 + 6 → 5 (112) 5 + 6 → 5 (123) 4 + 5 → 4 (134) 25 —————— 23 —————— 21 ————— 19 4 + 5 → 4 (113) 6 + 7 → 6 (125) 5 + 6 → 5 (137)

Coloration in life: Dorsal body and tail is olive, with 48 and 19 black edged red-brown transverse bands across the body and tail, respectively. Each of the bands on body possesses a blotch with similar color on each side, which sometimes contacts the bands. The bands become gradually closer towards tail. Dorsal head is uniformly dark brown, and the lateral head is yellow, with a red brown stripe whose width is approximately that of one temporal scale, starting from the posterior margin of the eye, extending across the temporal region, and ending at the posterior margin of the mandible. Ventral sides of the head, body and tail are grayish white. Each ventral and subcaudal scale is found with irregular brownish gray blotches.Variation: The type series is generally similar. Their measurements and scale characters are shown in Table 1.Distribution and ecology: Currently, P. himalayanus sp. nov. is known from the Jilong Valley (Figure 3 A, B)

Table 1 Variations in the type series of Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov. (in mm).

Holotype Paratype ParatypeKIZ 012736 JL 20120614-001 ZSI 25990

Sex Female Female MaleSVL 952 904 1035TAL 166 Incomplete 185TAL/SVL 0.17 — 0.18Rel TL 0.149 — 0.152HL 38.0 45.1 43.6HW 22.0 34.0 25.4SL 7/7 8/8 8/8IL 13/12 11 12/13Loreal 1 2 2PreO 2 2 2

PostO 2/3 3 3/2 and a granular One

VEN 205 198 204SC 71 — 71DSR 25-25-19 25-25-19 25-25-19Body bands 48 50 47Tail bands 19 — 16

Figure 1 Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov., KIZ 012736 (holo-type), an adult female from the Jilong Valley, Jilong County, southern Tibet, China. A: Dorsal view in life; B: Head profile, photos by Kai WANG; C: Dorsal view of fixed specimen; D: Ventral view of fixed specimen, photos by Ke JIANG.

Figure 2 Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov., ZSI 25990 (para-type), an adult male from Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India. Photo by Basundhara CHETTRI.

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in southern Tibet, China (type locality), Sikkim, India (Figure 3 C), and Bhutan (a specimen was photographed on a road leading out of the town, Haa in the Haa Valley in western Bhutan, Figure 4). All of these localities are situated on the southern slope of the Himalayas (Figure 5) at elevations ranging from 1300 m to 2100 m.

In Sikkim, P. himalayanus sp. nov. is commonly observed on the roads and moist litter of cardamom plantations at night from May to July, and is no longer active from mid September. Stone walls and tall grasses on the edge of agricultural fields provide refuge for the snakes. During the day, the snakes hide themselves under boulders, among grasses or in the stone walls by agricultural fields, and they come out to feed at dawn. Several road killed specimens and direct field observations confirmed that rats and shrews are the main diets of this snake.

3.2 Comparison A comparison of the pholidosis of P. himalayanus sp. nov. with that of other species in this genus is shown in Table 2. As can be noticed from Table

2, the new species is mostly similar to P. kaulbacki. The main differences between the two species are found in head shape, eye color, and body coloration (Table 3, Figures 6, 7). Nevertheless these differences are significant enough to separate the two species.

Protobothrops kaulbacki has a very sharp canthus rostralis, which is rounded in P. himalayanus sp. nov. (Figures 6, 7). The eye color of P. himalayanus sp. nov. is brown to copper, while that in P. kaulbacki it is nearly black. The eye color is lighter in juveniles of P. kaulbacki, but that in the juveniles of P. himalayanus sp. nov. is unknown. The dorsum of the head of P. himalayanus sp. nov. is uniformly brown without any marking, but with a visible postocular stripe, reddish brown in color; no marking presents on its neck. The dorsum of the head of

Figure 3 Habitat of Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov. A: Jilong Valley, Jilong County, southern Tibet, China; B: Collection locality of the paratype (JL 20120614-001), Jilong Valley, photos by Hujun PAN; C: Haa Valley, western Bhutan, photo by Jane HANCOCK.

Figure 4 Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov., observed from Haa in the Haa Valley, western Bhutan. Living specimen, unpreserved, photo by Jane HANCOCK.

Figure 5 Map showing the three known localities of Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov. Jilong Valley, Jilong County, southern Tibet, China (red dot); Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India (blue dot); and Haa in the Haa Valley, western Bhutan (purple dot).

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P. kaulbacki is nearly black, with a very sharp “Y-shaped” marking, opening posteriorly; a yellow stripe starting from the loreal region, extending across the temporal region, ending at the posterior margin of the mandible, and an inverted yellow “Y-shaped” marking occurs on the neck. Some faint orange or red brown markings present on the margins of the upper labials of P. himalayanus sp. nov., while the margins of the upper labials of P. kaulbacki are uniformly bright yellow.

Protobothrop himalayanus sp. nov. differs from P. jerdonii in the number of dorsal scale rows (25 MSR and 19 PSR in P. himalayanus sp. nov. vs. 21–23 MSR and 15–17 PSR in P. jerdonii), in the number of ventral scales (198–216 vs. 160–192), in an overall larger size (TL max 1510 mm vs. TL max 1090 mm) and in coloration (Table 3). As compared to P. mucrosquamatus, P. himalayanus

sp. nov. differs in the number of upper labials (7–8 vs. 9–11), in coloration (Table 3), and having a larger body size (TL max 1510 mm in P. himalayanus sp. nov. vs. TL max 1280 mm in P. mucrosquamatus).

4. Discussion

The continuous discovery of new species in the Himalayas shows a strong need for further exploration in the region. It is astonishing that three distinct species of the same genus are distributed in such close proximity in the Himalayan mountain range. Obviously here are several centers of endemisms which were not detected so far. One reason for this is the fact that the Himalayan region is partitioned by political borders, which make field surveys much more difficult to conduct. Thus, collaboration

TL TAL/TTL TAL/TTL VEN SC SC MSR PSR SL IL Outermost rowmax ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀

P. himalayanus sp. nov. 1510 0.148–0.171 0.149–0.180 198–216 71–75 65–76 25 19 7–8 11–13 Smooth(n = 6) (n = 12)

P. kaulbacki ① 1447⑧ 0.197⑧ 0.172⑩ 201–212 72–86 66–76 25–27 17–19 7–8 12–14 SmoothP. cornutus② 680 0.191–0.203 0.177–0.184 187–195 70–78 65–77 21 17 9 12–14 SmoothP. elegans③ 1287 0.199–0.229 0.179–0.193 179–192 69–79 63–72 23–25 19 7–8 10–12 SmoothP. flavoviridis 2315⑨ 0.153–0.176 0.142–0.169 220–239 79–94 73–86 33–39 23–25 7–9 14–17 SmoothP. jerdonii④ 1090 0.153–0.168 0.157–0.163 160–192 50–80 44–74 21–23 15–17 7–8 11–12 SmoothP. maolanensis⑤ 805 0.192–0.212 0.16 186–193 78–85 74 19–21 15–17 7–8 11–12 Keeled

P. mucrosquamatus 1280 0.160–0.240 0.110–0.190 193–233 78–100 70–87 23–27 17–25 9–11 11–17 Smooth or obtusely keeled

P. tokarensis 1500 0.183–0.222 0.169–0.200 179–192 75–84 72–79 23–25 19 7–9 12–16 SmoothP. trungkhanensis⑥ 733 0.194 0.176 188–194 75 76 19 17 8–9 11–12 KeeledP. xiangchengensis⑦ 1150 0.140–0.148 0.128–0.142 175–194 54–66 44–62 23–25 15–17 7–8 11–13 Smooth

Table 2 Comparison of pholidosis data of the species of the genus Protobothrops. P. mangshanensis and P. sieversorum are not included, which are very different and of which the generic membership is still under discussion (in mm). For abbreviations, see the “Material and Methods.”

① KIZ 011065, CAS 224430, Bhide et al., 2008 (source of counts unknown) and Smith (1940); ② David et al., 2008 and Gong et al., 2010; ③ Kikukawa, 1974; ④ Guo et al., 2011; ⑤ Yang et al., 2011; ⑥ Orlov et al., 2009; ⑦ Guo et al., 2006 and Zhao et al., 1998; ⑧ KIZ 011065 (as the data in the literature is inconsistent and contradictory, we decided to list here our own data only); ⑨ Mishima, 1980; ⑩ CAS 224430 (as the data in the literature is inconsistent and contradictory, we decided to list our own data only)

Table 3 Comparisons of the coloration of four selected species of the genus Protobothrops.

P. himalayanus sp. nov. P. kaulbacki P. jerdonii P. mucrosquamatus

Eye color (adults only) Brown Black Black or nearly black Brown or copper

Dorsal head color Brown, uniform Blackish, with vivid markings

Blackish, with vivid ornamentations Brown, uniform

“V” on head No Yes Yes NoPostocular stripe color Red brown Light yellow Yellow or white Dark brownPostocular stripe specificity Obscure Sharp Sharp Sharp

Postocular stripe starting Behind eye Before eye Before eye Behind eye

Color of the upper labials

Creamy yellow, with faint orange markings on the margins of the

upper labialsLight yellow, uniform White to yellow, some or all

with black margins.

Light brown, more or less in the same color as the dorsal head,

uniform

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between scientists from different neighboring countries is essential for a successful inventory of the herpetofauna of this huge region. This newly described species may not be uncommon along its range, but it is restricted to a narrow elevation range between 1300 m to 2100 m. Unfortunately, within its distribution area in India, the active period of P. himalayanus sp. nov. coincides with the peak tourist season (Government of Sikkim, 2012), resulting a high route-killing rate. Two to three snakes on average are killed per night in the vicinity of Chungthang, northern Sikkim. In addition, expanding habitat destruction around agricultural land reduces the natural shelters of snakes, making snakes more vulnerable to human activities. Habitat conservation and public educational programs should be conducted to protect the restricted habitats for the new species, and continuing field surveys are needed to obtain more accurate data for its population size and

distribution range.

Acknowledgements We are grateful to Yaping ZHANG (KIZ) and Huijian HU (South China Institute of Endangered Animal, China), for their support to this research, and Patrick DAVID (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France) for his help in many ways for this research. We thank Junxiao YANG (KIZ), Haihua QIN, Youling BAO (South China Institute of Endangered Animal, China), Jingjing LI (Southwest Forestry University, China) and all the other people who assisted with our fieldwork. We also thank Yunke WU (Harvard University, USA.) and Mian HOU (Sichuan Normal University, China) for providing literatures; we thank S. Bhupathy (Principal Scientist of Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, India) for guidance and B. K. Acharya (Sikkim Government College, Tadong, Gangtok, India) for constant support and encouragement. Jigme Tshelthrim WANGYAL (District Forest Office, District Administration, Trashigang, Bhutan) supported us with data from Bhutan. Jane HANCOCK was so kind to contribute pictures of a specimen of the new species from Bhutan. We are grateful to the Forests, Environment and Wildlife Management Department, and Government of Sikkim, India, for the necessary permission to carry out this research. Assistance and cooperation rendered by the residents of northern Sikkim are acknowledged. Jens V. VINDUM and Alan E. LEVITON (CAS) were so kind to let us examine specimens under their care. Gerrut NORVAL (Department of Environmental Sciences, UNISA, Republic of South Africa) and Theodore J. PAPENFUSS (Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, USA.) kindly revised the language of this

Figure 6 Comparison of the heads of Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov. (A: ZSI 25990, adult male from Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India, photo by Basundhara CHETTRI) and Protobothrops kaulbacki (B: KIZ 011065, adult male from Medog, southeastern Tibet, China, photo by Ke JIANG).

Figure 7 Protobothrops kaulbacki in life (KIZ 011065, adult male from Medog, southeastern Tibet, China. Photo by Ke JIANG).

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manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program; 2007CB411600), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST; Grant 2011FY120200), the Capability Support Project for Nature Reserve (Finance-Agri [2008] 297), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31090250, 31071946), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-Z-0807, KSCX2-EW-Z-2), and the Bureau of Science and Technology of Yunnan, China.

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