Based on the combined morphological, osteological characters and molecular phylogeny, we describe a new species of the genus Elaphe that was discovered from the south slope of the Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi, China, namely Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. It is distinguished from the other congeners by a combination of the following characters: dorsal scales in 21-21-17 rows, the medial 11 rows keeled; 202–204 ventral scales, 67–68 subcaudals; two preoculars (including one subpreocular); two postoculars; two anterior temporals, three posterior temporals; reduced maxillary teeth and dentary teeth number (maxillary teeth 9+2, dentary teeth 12; sharp cutting edges on the posterior or posterolateral surface of the rear maxillary teeth and dentary teeth; dorsa head yellow, three distinct markings on head and neck; a distinct black labial spot present in supralabials; dorsum yellow, 46–49 complete (or incomplete) large black-edged reddish brown blotches on body and 12–19 on tail, two rows of smaller blotches on each ventrolateral side; ventral scales yellow with mottled irregular black blotches, a few irregular small red spots dispersed on middle of ventral. Based on molecular phylogenetic analyses, the new species forms the sister taxon to E. zoigeensis. The discovery of this new species increases the number of the recognized species of the genus Elaphe to 20.

File naming and required software

Figure1~9

Data Citations Data citation guideline What's data citation?

Cite as:

Shi, J. (2021). A wolf in sheep's clothing: Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. (Squamata: Colubridae) and its possible mimicry to Protobothrops jerdonii. A Big Earth Data Platform for Three Poles, DOI: 10.11888/Ecolo.tpdc.271456. CSTR: 18406.11.Ecolo.tpdc.271456. (Download the reference： RIS | Bibtex )

Using this data, the data citation is required to be referenced and the related literatures are suggested to be cited.

References literature

1.Qi, Shi, Bu et.al., A wolf in sheep's clothing: Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. (Squamata: Colubridae) and its possible mimicry to Protobothrops jerdonii (View Details )

Support Program

Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition Program

Copyright & License

To respect the intellectual property rights, protect the rights of data authors, expand services of the data center, and evaluate the application potential of data, data users should clearly indicate the source of the data and the author of the data in the research results generated by using the data (including published papers, articles, data products, and unpublished research reports, data products and other results). For re-posting (second or multiple releases) data, the author must also indicate the source of the original data.

License： This work is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)