叶氏泛蜥 (Yè Shì Fàn Xī).

The sample size comprised 16 specimens, all collected by Lei Shi, Jing An and Tao Liang. The main description of this species is based on the male specimen (XND0808007; Figs 3, 4) whose tail had been naturally regenerated. Data and descriptions of the three female specimens (XND0808001, 002 and 005) are provided in parentheses in the following text (if different). The data available for the four voucher specimens are listed in Table 3.

Figure 3. 

Ablepharus eremchenkoi male (A, B) and female (C, D) in life. Photos by: Tao Liang.

Figure 4. 

Schematic representation of head scalation of Ablepharus eremchenkoi. A. Lateral view; B. Dorsal view; C. Ventral view. The plots were based on the male (XND0808007), the grey scale was the mutational scale between the second and third scales on the right side.

Morphologies of the remaining specimens were similar to those four adult specimens; these data are in Suppl. material 3.

The recorded characteristics of the specimen were as follows: body was small, nearly uniform in thickness, with SVL 46.5 mm and mass 2.04 g and slender (BW/SVL ratio 0.11) with an elongated trunk (AG/SVL ratio 0.53); imbricate scales were smooth and glossy; snout was slightly pointed; head was small and longer than it was wide (HL 9.6 mm, HW 6.6 mm, HD 4.9 mm); eyes were small; ED external ear opening was small with obviously projecting lobules; END was 3.4 mm; fore-limbs and hind-limbs were relatively short, the fore-limb was shorter than the hind-limb (FLL/HLL ratio 0.79) and the tips of the digits of the fore-limb and hind-limb met when the limbs were adpressed against each other along the body axis (except for XND20230808001); the tail was broken, but had regenerated and the regenerated tail was narrower than the body (4.6 mm cf. 6.2 mm) and was shorter than SVL (35.3 mm cf. 46.5 mm) despite tails generally being longer than SVL.

The width of the rostral was greater than its height and it was in contact with the first supralabials, nasals,and fronto-nasal. Nostrils were circular and located at the centre of the nasal cavity. Frontal, fronto-nasal and a pair of prefrontals were connected to a point (seven of sixteen individuals); four of sixteen individuals’ prefrontals were widely in contact with each other and frontal and frontal-nasal were separate from each other; three of sixteen individuals’ frontal and frontal-nasasl were widely in contact with each other, prefrontals were separate from each other; two of sixteen individuals had three prefrontals, which made frontal and frontal-nasal separate from each other. Prefrontal fan-shaped, a pair of prefrontals were in contact with the postnasal, loreal and first supraocular. A large single frontal, irregularly wedge-shaped, was in broad contact with the third and fourth supraoculars and a pair of frontoparietal posterolaterally. Frontoparietal were widely in contact with parietal and interparietal scales and third and fourth supraoculars. The interparietal rhomboid was posteriorly in contact with parietals. Parietals were anteriorly in contact with frontoparietal, interparietal and fifth supraocular and were laterally touching the upper posterior temporals. Three supraoculars and the eyes were surrounded by a circle of tiny irregular scales. There were four scales between the nasal cavity and eyes and one individual (XND20230808019) had five scales. For seven supralabials, there was a tiny supraocular between the second and third scales (Figs 3, 4) on the right side (Fig. 4) and seven infralabials. The mental was wider than it was long and was in contact with the first infralabial laterally, postmental posteriorly. Postmental was large and single; four pairs of large chin-shields were present, with the first pair in contact and the second pair narrowly separated by a single medial scale. Dorsal scalation was homogeneous with four columns; longitudinal scale rows were at mid-body 26 (25–29). Twenty-six scales were around the middle of the neck. The number of ventral scales was 43 (46–48). The lengths of the digits (measurements in mm in parentheses) were as follows: left manus IV (2.84) > III (2.69) > II (1.82) > V (1.46) > I (0.98); left pes IV (4.99) > III (3.46) > V (2.31) > II (1.96) > I (1.07). Toe IV lamellae 17.

Colouration in life: Overall, in the one male, the dorsal was coppery brown; dark longitudinal spots were present on the edges of scales and generated three irregular black lines continuing on to the tail. White dots were grouped into six irregular lines along the back of them; the two external dots merged into light lines on the dorsal sides (Fig. 4). The lines on the dorsal sides began at the nasal base until the tail base and they were filled with rare light dots (Fig. 4). The bottom half of the dorsal side was white. The male abdomen was orange-red to the tail, but not the regenerated tail. Females and males were coloured similarly, but the abdomen was paler for females than males; the outline of ventrals was black; and subadults and juveniles had abdomens similar to females, but without the orange-red colour.

Activity, habitats and distribution. All 16 specimens were collected during the day: 16:00–18:00 h and 11:30–13:00 h. According to the residents, these regions receive snow from September to May; thus, the activity times ranged probably from May to August. These individuals were collected at the bottom of a hill, from under rocks and some individuals were collected from riverbeds, 40.20°N, 74.56°E, 3133 m elev., (observations from Ya-hui Huang). This species was observed in Wuqia County, China. Except for Yuqitashi, where we obtained the specimen, this species has been observed in Kalatashi, at 40.0559°N, 74.5941°E and 3004 m elev. and in Jigen Village, at 39.82°N, 74.1069°E and 2709 m elev., identified by images provided by Ya-hui Huang and Jin-Xin Gu, respectively. All individuals were located in a continuous valley (Fig. 1), with altitude ranging from 2709 m to 3133 m (Fig. 1).

Viviparity. Of these individuals, three were gravid females, one female (XND0808001) laid four litters on the morning of 11 August 2023 and two females (XND0808002 and XND0808005) laid two litters on 23 and 24 August (Tables 4, 5) in the laboratory. On average, for these young, weight was 0.26 g, SVL was 22.9 mm and TL was 25.2 mm (Suppl. material 3). Juveniles were coloured and morphologically similar to adults, but had no orange-red colour on their abdomens. The diet of this species remains poorly understood, but they are thought to be carnivorous.

阿赖山泛蜥 (Ā Lài Shān Fàn Xī).

The sample size comprised 14 specimens, all specimens were collected by Peng Ding, Lin Leng and Ke-fan Wu. The main descriptions of this species were based on one specimen (XND2023092704). Additional descriptions were based on the other 13 specimens (in parentheses). All specimen morphological data is in the Suppl. material 3.

The body was small and nearly uniform in thickness, SVL 60.4 mm (26.1–51.1 mm); body mass was 2.93 g (0.29–2.24 g); eyes were small, ED 1.77 mm (1–1.5 mm); END 2.9 mm (1.7–3.3 mm); IND 2.37 mm (1.1–2.3 mm); the head was small, but longer than its width or depth, HL 11.97 mm (6.2–12.5 mm); HW 7.28 mm (3.8–6.9 mm); HD 6.5 mm (2.5–4.7 mm); AG 34.13 mm (14.1–33.1 mm); body was slender (BW/SVL ratio 0.17, 0.12–0.17) with an elongated trunk (AG/SVL ratio 0.56, 0.45–0.64); tail, broken or regenerated tails were excluded, was not as wide (TBW, 5.2 mm, 2.3–5.2 mm) as the trunk, but was longer (64.5 mm, 24.7–55.4 mm) than SVL (TL/SVL ratio 1.06, 0.94–1.17). Limbs were short, FLL 12.53 mm (8.1–12.7 mm) and HLL 16.45 mm (9.5–15.8 mm); the tips of the digits of the fore-limb and hind-limb did not meet each other when the limbs were adpressed against each other along the body axis, but for twelve of fourteen individuals they did meet each other. The lengths of the digits (measurements in parentheses) were as follows: left manus IV (2.68) > III (2.65) > II (1.91) > V (1.6) > I (1); left pes IV (5.07) > III (3.26) > V (2.8) > II (2.15) > I (0.95).

The rostral was single; wider than it was high; and was in contact with the first supralabials, nasals and frontonasals. The nasal rhomboid comprised circular nostrils, located at the centre of the nasal cavity. Fronto-nasal was fan-shaped and connected to the prefrontals. Prefrontals were pentagonal, a pair of prefrontals were connected with a border between them, located between the fronto-nasal and frontal (seven of fourteen individuals); three of the 14 individuals had frontals, fronto-nasals and a pair of prefrontals connected by a point; 3 of the 14 individuals had the frontal and frontal-nasal widely in contact with each other and the prefrontals were separate from each other. The frontal was wedge-shaped, which contacts with the prefrontals, the third and fourth supraoculars and a pair of frontoparietals posterolaterally. Six of the 14 individuals had frontals in contact with fronto-nasals, the prefrontals were not in contact with each other. The second supraocular region, in contact with the frontal and prefrontal regions, was a single tiny supracular hexagon, between the second supraocular and prefrontal regions. A pair of frontoparietals were in broad contact with each other; besides each frontoparietal was in contact with the frontal, third, fourth supraoculars, the parietal and interparietal. The interparietal rhomboid, in contrast with the frontoparietals, was posteriorly in contact with the parietals. A pair of parietals contact each other; additionally, each parietal was in contact with the interparietal, frontoparietal, fourth supracular and temporals. There were three scales between the nasal cavity and eyes; 10 of the individuals had at least four scales on one side. There were seven supralabials, four loreals between the nasal and eyes and a fourth tiny loreal. The specimen had seven infralabials; three individuals had six infralabials on each side. The temporal 1+2 and the second subtemporal were large and trapezoidal. The mental was wider than long, in contact with the first infralabial laterally and postmental posteriorly. There was a single, large postmental with four pairs of large chin-shields; the first pair was in contact with the second pair narrowly separated by a single medial scale. Dorsal scalation was homogeneous with four columns; there were longitudinal scale rows at mid-body 25 (25–28). There were 28 (25–29) scales around the middle of the neck and 50 (42 –51) ventral scales. There were 17 toe IV lamellae.

Colouration in life. The back was coppery brown, with dark longitudinal spots on the edges of the scales, which generated three black lines continuing on-to the tail; there were white longitudinal spots in the middle of the scales, generating three irregular lines continuing to the back of the tail base. A dark sooty area on each side was sharply defined above, but faded below the belly. The dark sooty area began after the nasal cavity and ended at the middle of the tail (Fig. 5). The abdomen of the females was slightly orange-red during the breeding seasons.

Figure 5. 

The general aspect and close-up views of Ablepharus alaicus (XND2023092704) in life from Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. A. Dorsolateral view of body; B. Ventral view of body; C. Dorsal view of head; D. Right side view of head; E. Ventral view of head. Photos by: Wei-Zhen Gao.

Viviparity. All fourteen specimens were collected during the day, from 12:00 to 18:00 h; therefore, this species appears to be diurnal. These individuals were collected at the bottom of a hill at an altitude of 2466 m and the microhabitats were covered with shrubs and gravel. Their diet remains poorly understood, but they are thought to be carnivorous. This species has been observed in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County, China and probably in adjacent Zhaosu County, which, along with Tianshan, has populations that are connected to those in Kazakhstan (Fig. 1).