A new species of wolf snake Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826 from China and Myanmar (Squamata: Colubridae), and new data on Lycodon gongshan Vogel & Luo, 2011

We describe a new species of wolf snake in the genus Lycodon Fitzinger based on eight specimens collected from the Xizang Autonomous Region of southwestern China and the Sagaing Region of northern Myanmar (Burma). The new species, Lycodon latifasciatus sp. nov., was previously confused with Lycodon fasciatus Anderson and Lycodon gongshan Vogel & Luo but differs from each species by having a dorsal color pattern consisting of broad dark brown and orange crossbands and a higher number of subcaudal scales (90–96).

Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences (16s ribosomal RNA, cytochrome b, and recombination activation gene 1) recover Lycodon latifasciatus sp. nov. as a well-supported outgroup to a clade containing five species: Lycodon fasciatus, Lycodon gongshan, Lycodon butleri Boulenger, L. cavernicolus Grismer, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Wood & Nor, and L. sidiki Wostl, Hamidy, Kurniawan & Smith. It is further distinguished from all members of that clade by having uncorrected pairwise distances ranging from 6.65–12.94% (based on cytochrome b sequences), and by a lack of haplotype sharing based on nuclear DNA sequences (recombination activation gene 1).

A redescription with new molecular and morphological data of L. gongshan is provided, including confirmation of recent records from Sichuan Province, China and a new record from Kachin State, Myanmar.