A new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata, Scincidae) from Guizhou Province, southwest China

A new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman is described from Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, China, based on morphological and molecular evidence. The new species, Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov., is diagnosed by the medium body size; tympanum diameter significantly larger than the palpebral disc; midbody scale rows 24; total ventral + gular scale rows numbering 61–66; toes nearly or just touching fingers when limbs are adpressed; 9 or 10 enlarged lamellae beneath finger IV, and 11 or 12 beneath toe IV; and the dark dorsolateral stripes narrow and wavy, covering 0.5–1 scale rows on the trunk, with four scale rows in between on the dorsum.

Phylogenetic analyses based on the mitochondrial 12 S, 16 S, and CO 1 gene fragments indicate that the new species is most closely related to S. alia Bragin, Zenin, Nguyen & Poyarkov, but differs by an uncorrected p - distance of 8.6–8.8 % in the CO 1 gene. The discovery of the new species raises the number of currently recognized Scincella species to 51, underscoring the underestimated diversity of the genus.