Redescription of Plagiopholis styani (Serpentes, Pseudoxenodontidae), with description of two new species from China Author Cai, Bo 0000-0002-4214-9060 China-Croatia Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China Author Xu, Yuhao 0000-0001-6094-6680 State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China Author Vogel, Gernot 0000-0002-4542-518X Society for South East Asian Herpetology, Im Sand- 3, Heidelberg D- 69115, Germany Author Peng, Lifang 0000-0001-9325-7048 State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China Author Xu, Jinan https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1930-8432 Zhejiang Forest Resource Monitoring Center, Hangzhou 310020, China Author Cheng, Lin Jiangxi Wuyishan National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, Wuyishan National Nature Reserve, Shangrao 334500, China Author Liang, Dong Sichuan Mt. Emei Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Leshan 614201, China Author Li, Mingxi China-Croatia Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China & University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, China & Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu 610072, China Author Wang, Yingyong State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol / The Museum of Biology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China Author Ma, Shun https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8611-4550 China-Croatia Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China & University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, China text Zoosystematics and Evolution 2025 2025-09-15 101 4 1775 1797 journal article 312305 10.3897/zse.101.152739 896a5bc7-af6e-4161-90de-d7ddaf14f64a 4E1A22E6-CF83-4E5D-94FA-7658DC5B34D8

Table 5. Comparative analysis of key morphological characteristics of Plagiopholis styani, P. acuta sp. nov., and P. pluvialis sp. nov. obtained from the specimens examined in this study, Stejneger (1925), and Zhao et al. (1998). TH: truncus of the hemipenis.

Species	P. styani		P. acuta sp. nov.		P. pluvialis sp. nov.
Sex	♂	♀	♂	♀	♂	♀
N	7	5	2	2	17	15
TAL / TL	0.13–0.15 (a 0.14)	0.10–0.13 (a 0.12)	0.15–0.16 (a 0.16)	0.10–0.12 (a 0.11)	0.12–0.18 (a 0.15)	0.11–0.13 (a 0.12)
TAL / SVL	0.15–0.17 (a 0.16)	0.12–0.15 (a 0.14)	0.18–0.19 (a 0.19)	0.11–0.14 (a 0.12)	0.14–0.21 (a 0.18)	0.12–0.15 (a 0.14)
HW / HL	0.55–0.70 (a 0.63)	0.59–0.68 (a 0.63)	0.56–0.61 (a 0.59)	0.64–0.65 (a 0.65)	0.54–0.68 (a 0.61)	0.53–0.73 (a 0.61)
MT	20–21	18	17–18	15–17	18	/
PRO	1	1	1	1	1	1
PO	2	2	2	2	2	2
Lor	0 (rarely 1)	0	0	0	0 (rarely 1)	0 (rarely 1)
SL	6	6 (rarely 7)	6	6	6	6
IL	6 (rarely 5)	6	6	6	6	6
TEMP	2 + 1 / 2	2 + 2	2 + 2	2 + 2	2 + 2	2 + 1 / 2
DSR	15-15 - 15	15-15 - 15	15-15 - 15	15-15 - 15	15-15 - 15	15-15 - 15
VEN	114 – 121 (a 116.43)	116–122 (a 119.40)	114–115 (a 114.50)	115–121 (a 118)	102–110 (a 108.19)	114–122 (a 117.53)
SC	26–30 (a 27.83)	23–28 (a 26.00)	29–30 (a 29.50)	24–25 (a 24.50)	26–31 (a 28.35)	16–26 (a 22.60)
CP	entire	entire	entire	entire	entire	entire
TH	smooth	/	spinulate throughout	/	spinulate throughout	/
NB	pentagonal, subannular or sagittate-shaped, across 3–6 dorsal scale rows		pentagonal or subannular, across 4–6 dorsal scale rows		inverted “ V ” shaped, across 2–3 dorsal scale rows
DSC	Dorsal brick-red with some scale edges black, forming a faint reticulated pattern		Dorsal brick-red with some scale edges black, forming a faint reticulated pattern		Dorsal olive with some scale edges yellow and black, forming a reticulated pattern.