A new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata, Scincidae) from Dak Lak Province, Vietnam

A new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 is described from south-central Vietnam based on morphological and molecular evidence. Scincella ngati sp. nov. is characterized by a combination of the following characters: size medium (SVL up to 48.3 mm); primary temporals two; external ear opening without lobules; loreals two; supralabials seven (rarely 8); infralabials six; enlarged nuchals, 0–2; midbody scales in 32–34 rows; dorsal scales smooth, in eight rows across the back; paravertebral scales 68–70, not widened; ventral scales in 64–68 rows; 10 or 11 smooth lamellae beneath finger IV and 16 or 17 beneath toe IV; toes not reaching the fingers when limbs adpressed along body; dorsal surface of body and tail bronze brown with a discontinuous black vertebral stripe, one scale wide, from middle of neck to tail base; a black stripe, two scales wide, interrupted by small pale spots, from nostril to eye and extending from posterior margin of eye along upper part of flank and tail base.

In the phylogenetic analyses, the new species is recovered as an independent lineage with no clear sister taxon and shows at least 11.2 % genetic divergence from other species in the genus based on a fragment of the mitochondrial COI gene.