A new limestone-associated species of wolf snake in the Lycodon fasciatus complex (Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae) from central Vietnam Author Vogel, Gernot 0000-0002-4542-518X Society for South East Asian Herpetology, Im Sand- 3, D- 69115 Heidelberg, Germany ogel@t-online.de Author Bragin, Andrey M. 0000-0002-3621-9763 Joint Vietnam-Russia Tropical Science and Technology Research Centre, Nghia Do, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam bragin98@yandex.ru Author Poyarkov, Nikolay A. 0000-0002-3621-9763 Joint Vietnam-Russia Tropical Science and Technology Research Centre, Nghia Do, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam & Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskiye Gory, GSP- 1, Moscow 119991, Russia bragin98@yandex.ru Author Nguyen, Tan Van 0000-0001-5413-968X Institute for Research and Training in Medicine, Biology and Pharmacy, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, 550000, Vietnam tan.sifasv@gmail.com text Zootaxa 2025 2025-08-12 5679 1 1 44 https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5679.1.1 journal article 312182 10.11646/zootaxa.5679.1.1 688f360d-42eb-4a61-9421-df275e9723a6 1175-5326 16983543 B743F819-2EFE-48EC-A561-02ABC6D97947

TABLE 2. Comparison of morphological characters between Lycodon calcarophilus sp. nov., L. fasciatus, and L. ruhstrati. Characters highlighted in bold are considered diagnostic (with respect to Lycodon calcarophilus sp. nov.)

Character	L. calcarophilus sp. nov.	L. fasciatus	L. ruhstrati abditus	L. ruhstrati ruhstrati
TaL/TL	0.19–0.22 [0.21±0.01]	0.19–0.22 [0.21±0.01]	0.19–0.25 [0.22±0.01]	0. 21–0. 25 [0. 23±0. 01]
VEN	214–219 [216.7±1.9]	197–213 [206. 1±4. 6]	210–230 [221.1±5.7]	211–228 [219.2±4.2]
SC	83–88 [85.3±2.0]	74–90 [81.8±3.6]	90–115 [97. 1±5. 9]	99–114 [105. 3±3. 6]
TOTAL	300–307 [303.0±2.8]	278–302 [288. 9±5. 7]	305–342 [319. 8±9. 1]	321–335 [326. 4±4. 6]
SCR	0.28–0.29 [0.28±0.00]	0.26–0.30 [0.28±0.01]	0. 28–0. 34 [0. 30±0. 01]	0. 31–0. 34 [0. 32±0. 01]
BB	19–25 [21.5±2.1]	28–43 [32. 3±3. 7]	17–47 [32. 9±7. 8]	29–46 [38. 0±4. 0]
TB	10–15 [12.8±1.9]	10–20 [15.5±2.4]	9–23 [15.8±3.0]	10–25 [19.2±3.3]
FB	12–15 [12.8±1.2]	5.0–18.0 [10.91±3.37]	9–21 [13.7±3.0]	8–16 [10.9±2.1]
BaB	10.0–13.0 [11.3±1.1]	4.0–14.0 [7.69±2.56]	5–13 [8.0±2.4]	5–7 [6.2±0.8]
BV	4.0–5.0 [4.7±0.5]	1. 0–3. 5 [2. 3±0. 7]	1–8 [2.9±1.8]	2. 0–2. 5 [2. 1±0. 2]
LOR-E	yes	yes	no	no
Dorsal ground color	Black	Black or dark brown	Dark brown	Black or dark brown
Color of light bands	White anteriorly, slight brownish-grey posteriorly	Variable, light, reddish or orangebrown anteriorly and posteriorly	White anteriorly, white or grey-brown posteriorly	Grey-brown
Ventral colouration	Banded, absent spots posteriorly	Banded, spots usually present posteriorly	Plain & spotted	Plain & spotted
Sources	This study	Nguyen et al. (2025)	Vogel et al. (2009); this study	Pope (1935); Chen (1991); Wu et al. (1985); this study