A new species of Calamaria Boie, 1827 (Squamata: Calamariidae) from Hunan Province, South Central China

A new species of Southeast Asian reed snake Calamaria Boie, 1827, Calamaria hunanensis sp. nov., is described from Hunan Province, China. Genetic analysis based on the mitochondrial cyt b gene indicates that the new species forms a deeply divergent clade, with a minimum interspecific genetic distance of 16.1% from C. jinggangensis. Morphologically, it differs from other species of the genus in the following characters: 181 ventral scales and 23 subcaudals in the male; preocular present; eye diameter slightly smaller than the eye-mouth distance; mental not touching anterior shields; posterior chin shields in contact at the anterior third; 6 scales surrounding paraparietal; end of tail sharp-pointed, dorsal scales reduced to four rows above the 4th subcaudal scale anterior to the tail tip; dorsal body basically brown, with nine narrow indistinct deep brown stripes; light nuchal collar present; lateral margins of ventral scales pigmented dark brown, matching the coloration of the adjacent outermost dorsal scales; and ventral body yellow.