2004

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 10, pp. 280-281

Pareas stanleyi - A Record New to Sichuan, Chinaand a Key to the Chinese Species
PENG GUO1 AND ERMI ZHAO2
1College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China 610041
2Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China 610041

Abstract. - A specimen of the Fujian slug-eating snake, Pareas stanleyi, was collected in Sichuan Province, China
for the first time. We provide a key to the Chinese species of Pareas.
Key words. - Serpentes, Colubridae, Pareas, China, Sichuan.
An adult male of the Fujian slug-eating snake, Pareas
stanleyi (Boulenger, 1914) was captured from
Muchansi, Liujiang Town, Hongya County,Southwestern Sichuan Province, China at noon on 02
June, 2003 (Fig. 1). This species was first describedbased on one male specimen from N. W. Fokien(=Fujian Province). It was successively found in
Zhejiang (Longquan), Jiangxi (Mt. Jinggangshan),Guizhou (Leishan), and also Fujian (Chongan, Nanjing,Pucheng, Shaowu). All the localities are situated within
108º 10' N, 119º 10' E and 26º 20' N, 28º 10' N. The geographic position of Liujiang Town is between 29º 44' N
and 103º 13' E . The discovery of Pareas stanleyi fromLiujiang Town extends its range about 5 degrees westward and about 1.5 degrees northward. The distribution
pattern of Pareas stanleyi is Southern China.

SCU No. 20030049
An adult male. Head distinct from the neck, snout blunt,
body somewhat compressed. Rostral high, visible fromabove of the head; internasals shorter than prefrontals;
no preoculars; loreals large, its posterior end entering theeye; prefrontals extending laterally to the sides of thehead, and touching the eye at its anterior upper corner;
supraoculars small; postoculars narrower and in contact
with the long narrower crescent subocular, which com-pletely encircling the posterior and inferior border of theeye; two anterior temporals, three posterior temporals;
upper labials seven, excluded from orbit; mental verysmall; lower labials eight, anterior three or four in contact with the anterior chin-shield; the latter three pairs,
no mental groove. Dorsal scales in fifteen rows throughout, three median rows feebly keeled at the neck region,seven median rows feebly keeled at the midbody, all but
the outer one row keeled before the vent, vertebral row
not enlarged; ventrals 153; anal entire; subcaudals inpairs, 54/54+1. The coloration of this specimen is identical with the original description by G. A. Boulenger(1914). The total length of the male Hongya specimen is630.5 mm with a tail length of 110.5 mm. The tail isabout 17.5% of the total length.
Twenty species belong to the genus Pareas Wagler,1830 (Welch, 1988). It ranges over East Asia,
Southeastern Asia, and South Asia (Bangladesh, Burma,China, India [Assam], Indonesia, Japan, Kampuchea,
Laos, Malaysia, Sikkim, Thailand, and Vietnam). In
China, nine species are recognized (Zhao et al., 1998).
The authors of this paper believe that Pareas macularius
Theobald, 1868 is a synonym of P. margaritophorus(Jan, 1866), P. komaii (Maki, 1931) is a synonym of P.
formosensis (VanDenburgh, 1909), and P. chinensis(Barbour, 1912) may be a synonym of P. hamptoni(Boulenger, 1905). Thus, there are only seven species
found in China, which may be distinguished by means of
the following key:

Key to Chinese Pareas

Figure 1. Pareas stanleyi from Sichuan Province, China.

© 2004 by Asiatic Herpetological Research

1A Color purplish blue or purplish brown, with many
black and white dorsal scales forming many short transverse bands ..............................Pareas margaritophorus
1B Color dark or light brown, many dorsal scales withsmall black spots forming transverse line or
reticulation ....................................................................2

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Asiatic Herpetological Research

2A No prefrontal..................................Pareas carinatus
2B With prefrontal and entering the eye.......................3
3A No preocular, loreal entering the eye......................4
3B Preocular present, loreal not entering the eye (or onlyits tip entering the eye) .................................................6
4A Dorsal scales smooth...............................................5
4B Dorsal scales keeled but the outer row smooth; backof head with big black blotch.................Pareas stanleyi
5A Vertebral enlarged; the fourth upper labial entering
the eye; ventrals more than 190; subcaudals more than72; a black "X"-shaped mark behind theparietals...............................................Pareas monticola
5B Vertebral not enlarged; the fourth upper labial notentering the eye; ventrals less than 190; subcaudals lessthan 77 ...............................................Pareas boulengeri
6A The second upper labial touching or not touching thecrescent subocular, found only in Taiwan
Province ...........................................Pareas formosensis
6B The second upper labial not touching the crescentsubocular, found in mainland ..............Pareas hamptoni

Literature CitedBoulenger, G. A. 1914. Descriptions of new species ofsnakes in the collection of the British Museum. TheAnnals and Magazine of Natural History, London,ser. 8, 14(84):482-485.
Pope, C. H. 1935. The Reptiles of China. American
Museum of Natural History, New York, NaturalHistory Central Asia, 10: lii, 1-604, 27 uncoloredplates, folding map.
Welch, K. R. G. 1988. Snakes of the Orient: A Checklist.
Robert E. Krieger, Malabar (Florida). vii, 183 pp.
Zhao, E. M. and K. Adler 1993. Herpetology of China.
SSAR & CSSAR, Ohio, 522 pp. 48 colored plates,3 maps.
Zhao, E. M., M. H. Huang, and Y. Zong. 1998. Fauna
Sinica, Reptilia, Vol. 3: Serpentes. Science Press,Beijing, 522 pp., 12 plates.

2004