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A new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata, Scincidae) from Guizhou Province, southwest China
expand article infoYuhao Xu‡, Zhonghao Gong‡, Tan Van Nguyen§, Jundong Deng‡, Andrey M. Bragin|, Shiyang Weng, Tierui Zhang#, Nikolay A. Poyarkov¤, Lifang Peng‡
‡ Qinghai University, Xining, China
§ Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam
| Joint Vietnam - Russia Tropical Science and Technology Research Centre, Hanoi, Vietnam
¶ Institute of Plateau Biology of Xizang Autonomous Region, Lhasa, China
# Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China
¤ Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Corresponding author: Tan Van Nguyen ( tan.sifasv@gmail.com )

Corresponding author: Nikolay A. Poyarkov ( n.poyarkov@gmail.com )

Corresponding author: Lifang Peng ( lifang@qhu.edu.cn )

Academic editor: Minh Duc Le
© 2025 Yuhao Xu, Zhonghao Gong, Tan Van Nguyen, Jundong Deng, Andrey M. Bragin, Shiyang Weng, Tierui Zhang, Nikolay A. Poyarkov, Lifang Peng.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Xu Y, Gong Z, Nguyen TV, Deng J, Bragin AM, Weng S, Zhang T, Poyarkov NA, Peng L (2025) A new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata, Scincidae) from Guizhou Province, southwest China. ZooKeys 1258: 9-33. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1258.161382
ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FA99E75A-D600-407E-92EF-31EEEA9A3453
Open Access

Abstract

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 12S, 16S, and CO1 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 CO1 gene. The discovery of the new species raises the number of currently recognized Scincella species to 51, underscoring the underestimated diversity of the genus.

Key words:

Molecular phylogeny, morphology, Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov., taxonomy

Introduction

The genus Scincella Mittleman, comprises small, terrestrial skinks distributed widely across regions from North America to South, East, and Southeast Asia (Ouboter 1986; Zhao et al. 1999; Uetz et al. 2025). Currently, 50 species of Scincella have been documented, including 16 species recorded from China, namely Scincella barbouri (Stejneger), S. chengduensis Jia, Gao, Wu, Wang, Liu, Liu, Jiang, Jiang, Ren & Li, S. doriae (Boulenger), S. fansipanensis Okabe, Motokawa, Koizumi, Nguyen, Nguyen & Bui; S. formosensis (Van Denburgh), S. huanrenensis Zhao & Huang, S. liangshanensis Jia, Gao, Wu, Ren, Jiang & Wu, S. modesta (Günther), S. monticola (Schmidt), S. potanini (Günther), S. przewalskii (Bedriaga), S. qianica Xu, Weng, Poyarkov, Zhang, Deng & Peng, S. reevesii (Gray), S. schmidti (Barbour), S. tsinlingensis (Hu & Zhao), and S. wangyuezhaoi Jia, Gao, Huang, Ren, Jiang & Li (Uetz et al. 2025; Xu et al. 2025a, b). This positions China as one of the major centers of diversity for the genus Scincella (Jia et al. 2024, 2025; Bragin et al. 2025a, b; Nguyen et al. 2025; Uetz et al. 2025). Morphologically, members of Scincella can be distinguished from other skinks by a unique combination of characters: a small and slender body, short limbs, absence of supranasals, lower eyelid with transparent or opaque disc, limbs pentadactyl, one row of lamellae under the basal digits, and the lower secondary temporal overlapping the upper one (Greer 1974; Greer and Shea 2003; Nguyen et al. 2010a). Species of this genus are highly adaptable and inhabit a wide range of environments, including forests, stream margins, hillsides, and arid valleys (Jia et al. 2023, 2024; Xu et al. 2025a, b).

The recent application of integrative taxonomy, which combines molecular and morphological data, has significantly advanced our understanding of the genus Scincella, resulting in the description of more than twelve new species over the past five years (e.g., Nguyen et al. 2020; Koizumi et al. 2022; Jia et al. 2023, 2024; Okabe et al. 2024; Pham et al. 2024, 2025; Bragin et al. 2025a, b; Jia et al. 2025; Nguyen et al. 2025; Xu et al. 2025b). Despite these advances, several taxonomic challenges remain unresolved. The inter – and intraspecific relationships within widely distributed species such as S. doriae, S. melanosticta (Boulenger), S. monticola, S. modesta, and S. reevesii remain poorly understood. Furthermore, molecular data are still unavailable for several poorly known taxa, including S. barbouri, S. doriae, S. rara (Darevsky & Orlov), and S. schmidti. These knowledge gaps highlight the need for continued taxonomic and phylogenetic research on this morphologically conserved yet underestimated genus.

During recent herpetological surveys conducted in Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, China, we collected eight specimens of skinks. Subsequent morphological comparisons and molecular analyses revealed that these specimens belong to the genus Scincella but are clearly distinguishable from all known congeners. Accordingly, we describe this previously overlooked population as a new species of Scincella, based on an integrative taxonomic approach combining morphological and genetic data.

Materials and methods

Sampling

Eight specimens of Scincella sp. were collected in Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, China (Fig. 1). All newly collected specimens were humanely euthanized using a lethal injection of 0.7% tricaine methanesulfonate (MS222) solution, then fixed and stored in 75% ethanol for long-term preservation. Fresh liver tissue was extracted and immediately preserved in 95% ethanol, and subsequently stored at –20 °C. All specimens were deposited in herpetological collection of the museum of Qinghai University, Qinghai Province, China (QHU). The related procedures complied with the Wildlife Protection Law of China and were approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Qinghai University (protocol number PJ202501-89).

Figure 1. 

Distribution of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. and its closest relatives. Stars indicate the type localities, and circles indicate the other known localities. Red star: Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov.; blue star and circle: S. alia; pink star and circle: S. chengduensis; yellow star: S. fansipanensis; white star and circles: S. liangshanensis; orange star and circles: S. monticola; grey star: S. potanini; black star: S. truongi; and purple star and circle: S. qianica.

Molecular phylogeny

Since all specimens were collected from the same locality and show consistent morphological traits, we randomly selected five individuals for DNA sequencing. Total genomic DNA was extracted from preserved liver tissue using the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (QIAGEN, Changsheng Biotechnology Co. Ltd). Three mitochondrial gene fragments were amplified: 12S ribosomal RNA (12S) using the primer pair L1091-F (5’-AAACTGGGATTAGATACCCCACTAT-3’) and H1478-R (5’-GAGGGTGACGGGCGGTGTGT-3’) (Kocher et al. 1989); 16S ribosomal RNA (16S) using 16SL-F (5’-TGTTTACCAAAAACATAGCCTTTAGC-3’) and 16SL-R (5’-TAGATAGAAACCGACCTGGATT-3’) (Linkem et al. 2011); and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (CO1) using RepCOI-F (5’-TNTTMTCAACNAACCACAAAGA-3’) and RepCOI-R (5’-ACTTCTGGRTGKCCAAARAATCA-3’) (Nagy et al. 2012). The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed in 25 μl reactions with the following cycling conditions: first an initial denaturing step at 95 °C for 5 min; then 35 cycles of denaturing at 95 °C for 40 s, annealing at 53 °C for 40 s and extending at 72 °C for 60 s; last a final extending step at 72 °C for 10 min. The PCR products were sequenced by Shanghai Map Biotech Co., Ltd. Raw sequences were assembled using SeqMan in the DNASTAR software package (Burland 2000). All resulting sequences have been deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers: PV640454–PV640458 (12S), PV640464–PV640468 (16S), and PV640489–PV640493 (CO1) (Table 1).

Table 1.
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GenBank accession numbers, localities, and voucher information for all specimens used in this study.

Species name Locality Voucher NO. 12S 16S CO1 References
1 Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. Qixingguan, Bijie, Guizhou, China QHU R2025008 PV640454 PV640464 PV640489 This study
2 Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. Qixingguan, Bijie, Guizhou, China QHU R2025009 PV640455 PV640465 PV640490 This study
3 Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. Qixingguan, Bijie, Guizhou, China QHU R2025010 PV640456 PV640466 PV640491 This study
4 Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. Qixingguan, Bijie, Guizhou, China QHU R2025011 PV640457 PV640467 PV640492 This study
5 Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. Qixingguan, Bijie, Guizhou, China QHU R2025012 PV640458 PV640468 PV640493 This study
6 S. alia Mt. Tay Con Linh, Tuyen Quang, Vietnam VRTC NAP14081 – – PV085567 Bragin et al. (2025a)
7 S. alia Mt. Tay Con Linh, Tuyen Quang, Vietnam ZMMU Re-18153 PV088911 PV088913 PV085569 Bragin et al. (2025a)
8 S. assata Finca El Milagro, Santa Ana, El Salvador KU 289795 JF497946 JF498074 – Linkem et al. (2011)
9 S. assata Canton El Volcan, San Miguel, El Salvador KU 291286 – JF498075 – Linkem et al. (2011)
10 S. auranticaudata Ta Kou NR, Lam Dong, Vietnam ITBCZ 6527 – – PV022548 Nguyen et al. (2025)
11 S. auranticaudata Ta Kou NR, Lam Dong, Vietnam ITBCZ 7620 – – PV022549 Nguyen et al. (2025)
12 S. badenensis Mt. Ba Den, Tay Ninh, Vietnam ITBCZ 5966 – – MK990602 Nguyen et al. (2019)
13 S. badenensis Mt. Ba Den, Tay Ninh, Vietnam ITBCZ 5993 – – MK990603 Nguyen et al. (2019)
14 S. balluca Bidoup-Nui Ba NP, Lam Dong, Vietnam ZMMU R-13268-NAP-00412 – – MH119616 Bragin et al. (2025b)
15 S. balluca Bidoup-Nui Ba NP, Lam Dong, Vietnam ZMMU R-13268-NAP-01062 – – MH119617 Bragin et al. (2025b)
16 S. baraensis Mt. Ba Ra, Dong Nai, Vietnam ITBCZ 6534 – – MT742256 Nguyen et al. (2020)
17 S. baraensis Mt. Ba Ra, Dong Nai, Vietnam ITBCZ 6536 – – MT742258 Nguyen et al. (2020)
18 S. boettgeri Yaeyama Group, Ryukyus, Japan KUZ R68001 – – LC630768 Koizumi et al. (2022)
19 S. boettgeri Yaeyama Group, Ryukyus, Japan KUZ R68008 – – LC630770 Koizumi et al. (2022)
20 S. chengduensis Dayi, Sichuan, China CIB 107637 PQ466924 PQ466921 PQ467109 Jia et al. (2025)
21 S. chengduensis Chongzhou, Sichuan, China CIB 118786 PQ466923 PQ466920 PQ467108 Jia et al. (2025)
22 S. cherriei Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas, Mexico RCMX 219 – MW265931 – Castiglia et al. (2020)
23 S. cherriei Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas, Mexico RCMX 235 – MW265932 – Castiglia et al. (2020)
24 S. devorator Ba Vi NP, Ha Noi, Vietnam ZMMU NAP07169 PV088910 PV088912 PV085573 Bragin et al. (2025a)
25 S. dunan Yonagunijima Is., Southern Ryukyus, Japan KUZ R65170 – – LC630778 Koizumi et al. (2022)
26 S. dunan Yonagunijima Is., Southern Ryukyus, Japan KUZ R67027 – – LC630779 Koizumi et al. (2022)
27 S. fansipanensis Mt. Fansipan, Lao Cai, Vietnam IEBR R.5185 – – LC846671 Okabe et al. (2024)
28 S. fansipanensis Mt. Fansipan, Lao Cai, Vietnam IEBR R.5187 – – LC846672 Okabe et al. (2024)
29 S. formosensis Taiwan, China KUZ R37515 – – LC630789 Koizumi et al. (2022)
30 S. formosensis Taiwan, China KUZ R37516 – – LC630790 Koizumi et al. (2022)
31 S. gemmingeri Teocelo, Mexico LSUMZ H-14810 AY308294 AY308445 – –
32 S. honbaensis Hon Ba NR, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam ITBCZ 4679 – – PV022547 Nguyen et al. (2025)
33 S. huanrenensis Pyeongchanggun, Gangwondo, Korea G390SH KU507306 KU507306 KU507306 Park et al. (2016)
34 S. huanrenensis Pyeongchanggun, Gangwondo, Korea – NC030779 NC030779 NC030779 Park et al. (2016)
35 S. lateralis Texas, USA DCC 2842 HM852476 HM852503 – Reeder and Reichert (2011)
36 S. lateralis Texas, USA KU 289460 JF497948 JF498077 – Linkem et al. (2011)
37 S. liangshanensis Meigu, Sichuan, China CIB 119513 PP826317 PP826315 PP824806 Jia et al. (2024)
38 S. liangshanensis Meigu, Sichuan, China CIB 119514 PP826318 PP826314 PP824804 Jia et al. (2024)
39 S. liangshanensis Yuexi, Sichuan, China XM-YXS80 PP826316 PP826313 PP824805 Jia et al. (2024)
40 S. melanosticta Kon Chu Rang NR, Gia Lai, Vietnam ZMMU
NAP05519		 – – MH119621 Neang et al. (2018)
41 S. melanosticta Kon Chu Rang NR, Gia Lai, Vietnam ZMMU
NAP06376		 – – MH119622 Neang et al. (2018)
42 S. modesta Ningbo, Zhejiang, China CIB 121415 PP819198 PP819195 PP819217 Jia et al. (2024)
43 S. modesta Ningbo, Zhejiang, China WYF 11520 PP819197 – PP819215 Jia et al. (2024)
44 S. monticola ShangriLa, Yunnan, China DLYNJC 2020824 OP955952 OP955962 – Jia et al. (2023)
45 S. nigrofasciata Keo Seima WS, Mondulkiri, Cambodia CBC 2545 – – MH119613 Neang et al. (2018)
46 S. nigrofasciata Dak Nong UNESCO Global GeoparkNR, Lam Dong, Vietnam ITBCZ 11028 – – PQ634873 Nguyen et al. (2024)
47 S. ouboteri Ngoc Son-Ngo Luong NR, Phu Tho, Vietnam IEBR R.5042 – – OP927026 Pham et al. (2024)
48 S. ouboteri Ngoc Son-Ngo Luong NR, Phu Tho, Vietnam IEBR R.5043 – – OP927027 Pham et al. (2024)
49 S. ochracea Sop Cop NR, Son La, Vietnam TBU PAT.254 – – OP927028 Pham et al. (2024)
50 S. potanini Kangding, Sichuan, China DL KD202109071 OP942203 OP935937 OP942210 Jia et al. (2023)
51 S. potanini Kangding, Sichuan, China DL KD202109072 OP942208 OP935987 OP942209 Jia et al. (2023)
52 S. reevesii Zhaoqing, Guangdong, China NB 2017030715 NC054206 NC054206 NC054206 Zhong et al. (2021)
53 S. reevesii Zhaoqing, Guangdong, China – MN832615 MN832615 MN832615 Zhong et al. (2021)
54 S. qianica Guiyang, Guizhou, China QHU R2025001 PV527316 PV527321 PV527759 This study
55 S. qianica Guiyang, Guizhou, China QHU R2025002 PV527317 PV527322 PV527760 This study
56 S. cf. rufocaudata Ke Go NR, Ha Tinh, Vietnam ZFMK 76238 – HM773216 – Nguyen et al. (2011)
57 S. cf. rufocaudata Ke Go NR, Ha Tinh, Vietnam ZFMK 76239 – HM773217 – Nguyen et al. (2011)
58 S. rupicola Thailand KUZ 40458 AB057388 AB057403 – Honda et al. (2003)
59 S. vandenburghi Tsushima Island, Japan KUZ R66394 – – LC507695 Koizumi et al. (2021)
60 S. vandenburghi Yeongwolgun, Korea G389SV KU646826 KU646826 KU646826 Park et al. (2016)
61 S. wangyuezhaoi Wenchuan, Sichuan, China CIB 87246 OP942191 OP941172 OQ402205 Jia et al. (2023)
62 S. wangyuezhaoi Lixian, Sichuan, China CIB 119510 OP942192 OP941174 – Jia et al. (2023)
Out group
63 Sphenomorphus cryptotis Shangsi, Guangxi, China CIB 119027 OP942206 OP942190 OP942215 Jia et al. (2023)

In addition to newly obtained sequences, we included 100 sequences from 57 individuals representing 31 nominal Scincella species (Table 1), and selected Sphenomorphus cryptotis Darevsky, Orlov & Cuc as the outgroup (following Jia et al. 2023). Three gene fragments, comprising 384 base pairs (bp) of 12S, 542 bp of 16S, and 659 bp of CO1, were concatenated into a combined dataset (comprising 1585 bp in total). Sequence alignment was performed using MUSCLE (Edgar 2004) in MEGA X (Kumar et al. 2018). The Maximum Likelihood (ML) analysis was conducted in IQ-TREE v. 1.6.12 (Nguyen et al. 2015) using the best-fit model GTR + F + I + G4 for all three fragments (12S, 16S, and CO1), as determined by ModelFinder for IQ-TREE in PhyloSuite v. 1.2.3 according to Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) (Kalyaanamoorthy et al. 2017; Zhang et al. 2020). Nodes were considered well supported when the ultrafast bootstrap values (UFB) were above 95% and SH-like approximate likelihood ratio test values (SH-aLRT) were above 80% (Stephane et al. 2010; Hoang et al. 2018). The resulting phylogenetic tree was visualized in FigTree v. 1.4.4 (Rambaut 2018). Pairwise genetic distances (p-distances) for the CO1 gene between closely related species were also calculated in MEGA X using the uncorrected distance model.

Morphological analyses

Morphological data, including both meristic and morphometric characters, were described following the methodology of Bragin et al. (2025a), with certain character abbreviations revised according to the standards of Darko et al. (2022). Three morphometric characters were measured with Deli digital calipers (No. 90150B) to the nearest 0.1 mm: SVL = snout-vent length, measured from the tip of the snout to the posterior edge of vent; TAL = tail length, measured from the posterior margin of vent to the tip of tail; AGD = axilla-groin distance, defined as the distance between the posterior edge of the forelimb insertion and the anterior edge of the hindlimb insertion, with both limbs inserted perpendicularly to the body wall. All other measurements were taken using Mitutoyo digital calipers (CD-15AX) to the nearest 0.01 mm under Leica stereomicroscope (EZ4): HL = head length, measured from the tip of the snout to the caudal extremity of the retroarticular process of the mandible (a prominent point externally visible at the posterior end of the lower jaw); HW = head width, the widest portion between the left and right articulations of jaw; HH = head height, the deepest portion from ventral to dorsal surface of head; ED = eye diameter, the length of the palpebral cleft; EN = eye-narial distance, measured from the anterior corner of the eye to the posterior margin of the naris; PDD = palpebral disc diameter, the maximum horizontal diameter of palpebral disc; ESD = snout length, measured from the tip of the snout to the anterior corner of eye; EL = ear opening diameter, maximum diameter of tympanum; FLL = forelimb length, measured from anterior junction of forelimb and body wall to tip of the finger IV; F4L = finger IV length, measured from the junction between the skin of third and fourth fingers to tip of finger IV; HLL = hind-limb length, measured from anterior junction of hindlimb and body wall to tip of toe IV; T4L = toe IV length, measured from the junction between the skin of third and fourth toes to tip of toe IV; and Limbs adpressed = whether the forelimbs and hindlimbs can make contact when the body is held straight and the limbs are adpressed.

Scalation features and their abbreviations were as follows: SL = supralabials; IL = infralabials; FrN = frontonasals; SCI = superciliaries; SO = supraoculars; PF = prefrontals; FrP = frontoparietals; P = parietals; TEMP = enlarged temporals; Lor = loreals; NU = nuchals; chin-shields; GS = gulars scale; MBSR = midbody scale rows, number of longitudinal scale rows measured around the widest point of midbody; PVSR = paravertebral scale rows, the number of scale rows counted between parietals and the just posterior margin of hindlimbs; DBR = dorsal scale rows between dorsolateral stripes, the number of midbody dorsal scale rows between dark dorsolateral stripes; SRB = scale rows covered by dorsolateral stripes; VS = ventral scale rows, the number of scale rows counted between gulars and precloacals; F4S = number of enlarged, subdigital lamellae beneath finger IV; and T4S = number of enlarged, subdigital lamellae beneath toe IV. Sex was determined by dissection, based on the presence of testes or ovaries.

In addition, following Jia et al. (2024), we also examined the diagnostic coloration characters in Scincella species: UMLLS = the upper margin of dorsolateral stripes wavy or relatively straight, and VDM = ventral dark markings, presence or absence of dark-colored markings on the ventral surface.

The comparison with other species of the genus Scincella was based on available literature: Gray (1838), Boulenger (1887), Günther (1896), van Denburgh (1912), Stejneger (1925), Barbour (1927), Schmidt (1927), Smith (1935), Taylor (1963), Zhao and Huang (1982), Darevsky and Nguyen (1983), Ouboter (1986), Wang and Zhao (1986), Inger et al. (1990), Darevsky and Orlov (1997), Zhao et al. (1999), Chen et al. (2001), Darevsky et al. (2004), Bourret (2009), Nguyen et al. (2010a, b, 2011, 2019, 2020, 2025), Neang et al. (2018), Koizumi et al. (2022), Jia et al. (2023, 2024), Okabe et al. (2024), Pham et al. (2024), Bragin et al. (2025a, b), Jia et al. (2025), Pham et al. (2025), Xu et al. (2025a, b).

Other abbreviations are as follows: Is: Island; Mt.: Mountain; NP: National Park; NR: Nature reserve; WS: Wildlife Sanctuary.

Statistical analysis

To compare quantitative variation among Scincella sp. from Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou, and its two closely related congeners S. alia and S. qianica (as suggested by DNA data), we conducted a series of univariate and multivariate statistical analyses to test whether the three species-level lineages occupied distinct morphological clusters and whether they differed significantly from one another.

Prior to statistical analyses, specimens of Scincella sp. from Bijie, S. alia, and S. qianica were sorted based on external morphology and geographic distribution. Specimens with broken tails or incomplete morphological data were excluded from multivariate analyses but retained for univariate comparisons.

Each morphological character was first tested for normality (Shapiro-Wilks test) and homogeneity of variances (Levene’s test). Independent-sample Student’s t-tests were conducted to assess sexual dimorphism across the dataset. Since most characters satisfied these assumptions and no significant sexual dimorphism was detected, we pooled males and females (including juveniles) for all subsequent analyses to maximize sample size.

We then applied one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD post hoc tests to evaluate pairwise differences in individual morphological traits among the three lineages. For multivariate analyses, eight candidate morphological characters were combined, and a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on twenty-four specimens (8 Scincella sp. from Bijie, 12 S. alia, and 4 S. qianica). All statistical analyses were conducted in R v.4.4.0 (R Core Team 2024), and PCA visualization was generated using the R package ggplot2 (Wickham 2016). We considered all differences statistically significant at P ≤ 0.05.

Results

Phylogenetic analysis

The topology obtained from the ML analysis is shown in Fig. 2. The phylogenetic reconstruction based on the 12S, 16S, and CO1 genes was largely consistent with previous studies regarding the relationships among species within the major clades of Scincella (Jia et al. 2023, 2024, 2025; Bragin et al. 2025a, b). All Scincella specimens clustered into a monophyletic group. The specimens from Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, China formed a strongly supported lineage (SH = 100 / UFB = 100), with nearly no detectable molecular divergence in CO1 (mean p-distance = 0%), and were recovered as the sister group to S. alia. The combined clade of the above-mentioned was subsequently grouped with S. qianica, but the nodal support was relatively low (SH < 50 / UFB = 78).

Figure 2. 

Phylogenetic topology of the genus Scincella inferred from three mitochondrial (12S/16S/CO1) fragments. The nodes supporting values on branches are presented with the SH-like approximate likelihood ratio test (SH) / Ultrafast Bootstrap Approximation (UFB); the ones lower than 50 are displayed as “–”. Photos on thumbnails by YHX.

The uncorrected p-distance are presented in Table 2. Among Scincella species, interspecific p-distances based on the CO1 gene ranged from 8.0% (between S. boettgeri (Van Denburgh, 1912) and S. dunan Koizumi, Ota & Hikida) to 28.7% (between S. modesta and S. ochracea (Bourret)). In comparison, the newly collected specimens exhibited genetic distances ranging from 8.6% (vs S. alia) to 27.2% (vs S. reevesii), further supporting their distinctiveness from congeners.

Table 2.
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Uncorrected p-distance (%) among the genus Scincella species based on partial mitochondria CO1 gene.

No. Species 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
1 S. tenuistriata sp. nov. 0
2 S. alia 8.6–8.8 0.8
3 S. auranticaudata 23.2–23.4 20.9–21.6 0.5
4 S. badenensis 23 21.3–21.9 9.9–10.0 0
5 S. baraensis 25.1–25.4 24.7–25.9 22.3–22.8 22.0–22.2 0.2
6 S. boettgeri 23 20.2–20.8 24.2–24.5 23.4 24.0–24.2 0.2
7 S. chengduensis 17.4–17.8 16.4–17.0 22.4–22.6 22.0–22.5 25.5–26.2 20.9–21.3 0.3
8 S. devorator 20.8 19.9–20.1 19.0–19.2 21.3 22.5 20.6 17.3–17.8 –
9 S. balluca 20.7–20.9 19.5–20.1 21.4–22.0 21.9–22.2 19.1–19.3 21.8–22.0 22.7–23.4 22.1–22.3 1
10 S. dunan 25.1–25.3 22.3–23.2 24.4–24.9 23.5–23.8 26.3–26.7 8.0–8.4 21.1–21.7 20.8–21.0 23.5–23.8 0.2
11 S. fansipanensis 19.1 17.5–18.3 17.5–17.8 19.6 22.1–22.6 20.3 17.9–18.5 15.8 21.2–21.4 22.2–22.5 0
12 S. formosensis 22.9 21.7–22.0 23.5–23.7 24.4 23.4–23.8 9.5 21.3 20.9 23.0–23.1 10.0–10.4 22.9 0.2
13 S. honbaensis 21.4 21.1–22.0 23.4–23.7 23 23 22.5–22.7 20.9–21.4 21.9 19.8–20.4 21.1–21.3 21 23.5 –
14 S. huanrenensis 25.9 22.9–23.8 19.9–20.2 20.8 21.4–21.6 22.1 20.0–20.4 20.8 23.1–23.3 22.1–22.4 19.8–20.0 21.1–21.4 21.8 0
15 S. liangshanensis 18.1–18.7 18.1–19.2 22.5–23.6 21.2–21.3 21.1–22.0 20.2–21.4 17.5–18.5 17.4–17.8 19.6–20.4 23.2–24.3 13.3–14.2 23.2–23.5 18.6–19.7 18.8–20.0 1.1–1.4
16 S. melanosticta 23.2–23.4 21.8–22.3 21.4–22.2 23.1–23.3 22.8 24.7–25.4 22.8–23.4 22.9–23.5 22.3–23.0 26.2–26.9 22.0–22.9 25.4–25.6 22.7 24.0–24.5 21.3–22.3 0.8
17 S. modesta 21.0–22.3 21.8–22.1 22.0–23.1 23.3–23.6 22.6–23.3 17.6–18.1 20.4–22.6 19.7–19.9 18.7–20.9 17.5–20.0 18.4–18.9 19.3–19.9 22.2–22.7 21.6–23.0 19.2–20.5 24.1–24.5 5.5
18 S. nigrofasciata 19.5–19.9 19.8–20.4 13.2–15.0 11.9–12.0 22.9–23.1 23.8–24.1 20.8–22.1 21.9–23.6 20.7–21.6 24.2–25.0 18.0–19.8 24.7–25.0 20.5–21.5 21.2–23.8 20.7–21.7 23.3–24.2 22.4–23.8 5.3
19 S. ochracea 26.8 26.2–26.7 24.1–24.3 24.6 25.1–25.4 24.7–25.0 24.9 24.8 27.4–28.6 24.4–24.7 25.7 24.1 24.8 25.6 23.7–24.3 25.8–26.7 26.8–28.7 24.3–24.4 –
20 S. ouboteri 25.6–26.1 25.2–26.5 22.5–22.9 23.3–23.7 24.0–24.5 22.4–23.1 24.0–24.5 24.7–24.9 25.2–26.7 24.6–25.3 23.3–23.6 22.0–22.4 22.4–22.6 24.2–24.3 23.7–24.6 26.8–27.3 26.5–27.5 23.0–23.8 8.9–9.2 0.3
21 S. potanini 19.8–20.3 19.8–21.1 22.1–22.3 21.8–22.0 22.1–22.8 18.6–19.0 18.8–19.5 16.4–16.9 19.6–20.2 21.9–22.4 16.5–16.8 22.5–22.8 21.7–22.2 20.8–21.3 15.4–16.5 22.4–23.6 19.8–20.8 19.7–20.7 25.6–25.9 24.4–24.9 0.3
22 S. qianica 19.5 28.1–28.3 22.2–22.8 21.6 24.2–24.4 23.4 18.2–18.6 17.9 23.4 24.3–24.5 18.7–18.9 23.7 22.3 23.1 16.0–16.5 23.5–24.1 22.1–24.3 23.8–24.4 26.9 26.0–26.2 19.7–20.0 0
23 S. reevesii 27.2 27.7–27.8 24.8–25.0 24.9 24.6–24.8 24.4–24.6 26.1–26.6 24.5 27.3–27.6 24.8–25.0 25.8–25.9 25.2 25.1 26.1 24.6–25.3 28 25.2–26.6 25.7–25.9 10.2 10.7–11.1 23.5–24.1 26.7 0
24 S. truongi 20.4 19.3–19.5 20.1–20.8 20.8 25.3–25.5 20.7 18.4–18.8 20.7 21.7–22.2 22.6–22.8 18.8 21.7 20.5 24.2 21.1–22.0 26.6–26.8 19.5–20.8 22.7–23.2 27.6 26.0–26.5 21.8–22.3 20.9 27.8 0
25 S. vandenburghi 20.8–21.0 20.6–21.9 23.1–23.5 25.5–25.7 24.3–24.8 15.2–15.4 18.4–19.0 21.2–21.4 19.7–20.6 16.2–16.6 20.1–20.5 16.2–16.4 23.1–23.3 23.1–23.3 19.4–20.5 27.2–27.5 17.4–18.1 22.4–23.8 26.3–26.5 26.1–26.8 20.2–20.7 23.0–23.3 26.2–26.5 20.3–20.5 0.2
26 S. wangyuezhaoi 20.7 21.2–22.3 21.3–21.5 21.5 25.3–25.5 24.8 20.4–20.8 20.3 22.8–23.1 23.8–24.0 18.2–18.7 24 23.3 19.2 19.4 24.4–24.7 17.5–21.0 20.4–20.7 26.7 26.1–26.3 19.1–19.6 18.7 27 23.5 19.8–20.0

In light of the well-supported monophyly and significant genetic divergence of the Guizhou populations of Scincella sp., along with the unique geographical distribution and a combination of morphological characters, which concordantly differ this population from all known congeners, we herein describe the Scincella sp. population from Qixingguan District, Guizhou Province, as a new species.

Morphological analysis

The PCA of the three lineages based on eight morphological characters is shown in Fig. 3. The first two principal components together explained 69.59% of the total variance, with PC1 accounting for 47.46% and PC2 for 22.13%.

Figure 3. 

PCA scatter plots of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov., S. alia, and S. qianica. The shape and color indicated signify different clusters of each Scincella spp.

PC1 was most strongly loaded on ventral scale counts (VS, loading = 0.4370) and midbody scale rows (MBSR, 0.4303), followed by AGD (0.3482) and SVL (0.3326). PC2 was heavily loaded on snout-vent length (SVL, 0.4991) and AGD (0.4412), with a strong negative loading on paraventral scale rows (PVSR, –0.4310) (Table 3).

Table 3.
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Summary statistics of the principal components analysis (PCA), showing the highest loadings of each morphological character examined and the proportion of variance of each principal component.

Factor PC1 PC2 PC3 PC4
SVL (mm) 0.3326 0.4991 -0.3566 0.0074
AGD (mm) 0.3482 0.4412 -0.4158 0.1542
MBSR 0.4303 -0.1795 0.1107 -0.4693
PVSR 0.2785 -0.4310 -0.0456 0.744
VS 0.4370 -0.1664 0.0079 0.0462
GS+VS 0.4140 -0.0274 0.3479 0.1194
F4S -0.2646 -0.3201 -0.6642 0.0590
T4S 0.2702 -0.4554 -0.3511 -0.4271
Eigenvalue 3.7971 1.7708 0.8626 0.5846
Cumulative Eigenvalue % Total Variance 47.46 22.13 10.78 7.31
Cumulative % Total Variance 47.46 69.60 80.38 87.69

The scatterplot of PC1 versus PC2 clearly separated the three lineages into distinct morphological clusters, with Scincella sp. from Qixingguan, Bijie, Guizhou forming a discrete group relative to S. alia and S. qianica. These results indicate that the three lineages occupy distinct morphological spaces and are statistically distinguishable from one another.

Taxonomic account

Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/2DFFBC0D-8418-4FAA-AF48-064E830B4DCB
Tables 4, 5, Figs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Type material.

Holotype. • QHU R2025009, adult male, from Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, China (27.2166°N, 105.0015°E; elevation ca. 1,850 m a.s.l.) collected by ZHG on April 15, 2025. Paratypes (n = 7). • QHU R2025008 and QHU R2025010–015, seven adult males, with the same collecting information as the holotype.

Diagnosis.

Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. can be diagnosed from other Scincella species by the following unique combination of characters: (1) medium body size in adult male, with a maximum SVL of 42.4 mm; (2) supraciliaries six; (3) supralabials seven, separated from the eye by a row of small scales; (4) infralabials six, rarely five; (5) tympanum deeply recessed and without lobules, with a tympanum diameter significantly larger than the palpebral disc (ear opening diameter / palpebral disc diameter ratio 1.84–2.25; (6) primary temporal single; (7) midbody scale rows 24; (8) ventral scale rows (excluding gulars) 40–43, gulars 21–23, with total ventral + gular scale rows numbering 61–66; (9) toes nearly or just touching fingers when limbs are adpressed; (10) 9 or 10 enlarged lamellae beneath finger IV, and 11 or 12 beneath toe IV; (11) 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; (12) dorsal surface of body brassy, scattered with small dark sports; (13) in life, the ventral surface of the trunk is yellow, scattered with irregular dark spots.

Description of the holotype.

Adult male in a good state of preservation with size medium, (SVL 40.3 mm); tail relatively long (TAL 63.7 mm, TAL/SVL ratio 1.58). Axilla-groin distance 22.2 mm, AGD/SVL ratio 0.55. Head elongated, indistinct from the neck (HL 8.41 mm, HW 4.75 mm, HH 3.11 mm). Snout short, obtuse, round anteriorly (ESD 2.31 mm, EN 2.00 mm). Eye large (ED 2.13 mm), lower eyelid with an undivided transparent palpebral disc (window), PDD 0.80 mm. Ear nearly circular; tympanum recessed and distinctly larger than the palpebral disc (EL 1.47 mm, EL/PDD ratio 1.84). Limbs relatively short, toes nearly touching fingers when limbs are adpressed (FLL 9.78 mm, HLL 11.77 mm, F4L 2.11 mm, T4L 3.88 mm, FLL/SVL ratio 0.24, HLL/SVL ratio 0.29). Digits moderately long and slender, each ending in a clearly visible, slightly curved claw. Relative digit lengths of the manus: IV > III > II > V > I, and of the pes: IV > III > V > II > I.

Head scalation (Fig. 4). Head scales smooth. Rrostral convex, wider than high, distinctly visible from above, in contact with the 1st supralabials, nasals, and frontonasal; supranasals absent; frontonasal one, approximately boat-shaped, width ~2× the height., in contact with the rostral, nasals, anterior loreals, prefrontals and frontal; prefrontals two, not in contact with each other, separated medially by frontal; frontal slender, longer than wide, diamond-shaped, in contact with the 1st superciliary, 1st and 2nd supraoculars laterally; a pair of frontoparietals, in contact with each other anteriorly, bordered by frontal, 2nd to 4th supraoculars, interparietal and parietals; interparietal diamond-shaped, width less than height; parietals large, in contact posteriorly, posterolateral border surrounded by the upper secondary temporals, prenuchals, and enlarged nuchals; a single pair of prenuchals, and three pairs of enlarged nuchals.

Figure 4. 

Head scalation of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. (holotype, QHU R2025009, adult male). A. Dorsal; B. Lateral; C. Ventral views. Notes: CH: chin-shield; F: frontal, FrN: frontonasal; FrP: frontoparietal; IL: infralabials; IP: interparietal; L: loreals; M: mental; NU: nuchals; P: parietal; PF: prefrontal; PM: postmental; R: rostral; SCI: supraciliaries; SL: supralabials; SO: supraoculars; TEM: temporals. Photographs and drawings by YHX. Scale bars: 5 mm.

Nostril oval, located at the center of the nasal; nasal entire, diamond-shaped, width approximately equal to height, in contact with the rostral, frontonasal, 1st loreal, and 1st supralabial; loreals 2, subequal in size; supraoculars 4/4, the 1st contacts the frontal, the 2nd is the largest and contacts both the frontal and frontoparietals, and the 3rd and 4th contact the frontoparietals; superciliaries 6/6, the 1st is the largest; the palpebral disc is bordered by a series of small scales; temporals 1+2, the anterior one subrectangular, the upper secondary temporal is the largest, while the lower one is smaller and broadly contacts the upper; supralabials 7/7, 1st smallest, 5th below the window, 6th largest.

Mental wider than long, round anteriorly, in contact with the 1st infralabials and postmental; postmental large and subpentagonal, contacting the mental, the first two infralabials on each side, and the first pair of chin shields; infralabials 5/6, 1st smallest, 4th/6th largest; three pairs of chin shields, the first pair in contact medially, the second pair separated by one gular scale, and the third pair separated by three gulars; gulars 22.

Body scalation (Fig. 5). Body scalation smooth, scales around midbody in 24 rows; distinctly larger than lateral scales and slightly larger than ventrals; paravertebral scale series composed of 51 scales; dorsal scales between dorsolateral stripes 1/2+4+1/2. Ventral scales slightly enlarged medially, decreasing toward the flanks; ventral scale rows (excluding gulars) 41, GS+VS 63; medial pair of precloacal scales enlarged, the left one overlapping the right one. Tail complete; tail scales imbricate and generally uniform in shape, except for the markedly widened subcaudals. Limbs pentadactyl; dorsal surface of fingers and toes covered with two interdigitating scale rows; 10 enlarged lamellae beneath finger IV and 11 beneath toe IV.

Figure 5. 

Dorsal (A), lateral (B), and ventral (C) views of the body; D. Ventral view of the hand; E. Ventral view of the foot of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. (holotype, QHU R2025009, adult male) in preservation. Photographs by YHX. Scale bars: 5 mm (A–C); 2 mm (D, E).

Coloration of the holotype in life (Fig. 6). In life, dorsal surface of the head is brassy, scattered with small, irregular dark spots. The upper lateral margins of the head also copper-colored, gradually fading to light brown ventrally, and densely covered with small, ink splatter-like dark spots. The ventral surface of head is creamy white, marked with irregular dark blotches. Each blotch is smaller than a single scale and composed of clusters of over a dozen minute dots.

Figure 6. 

Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views of the holotype (QHU R2025009, adult male) of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. in life in situ. Photographs by YHX.

The dorsal surface of the body and tail is brassy, scattered with small, irregular dark spots. A dark dorsolateral stripe is slightly wavy and very narrow, covering ~0.5–1 scale row on the trunk. The stripe originates at the snout, follows the upper edges of the nasal and loreals, is interrupted at the eye, then resumes posterior the eye and extends along the flanks above the forelimbs and hindlimbs, reaching the tip of the tail. The ground color of the upper flanks is dark brown, bearing scattered black spots that occasionally coalesce into broken, irregular longitudinal streaks. Further ventrally, the brown gradually fades, with the surface marked by small cream and blackish-brown speckles. Near the ventral edge, the brown coloration breaks up further and merges gradually into the lighter ventral coloration. The ventral surface of the trunk is yellow, with a few small, irregular dark spots. The ventral surface of the tail is yellow basally, transitioning to gray posteriorly and densely covered with small dark spots throughout.

Coloration of the holotype in preservation (Fig. 7). After one month in ethanol, the coloration remains similar to that in life, except that the lateral body appears paler, the ventral surface of the trunk faded to a very light cream yellow, and the ventral surface of the tail has turned grayish white.

Figure 7. 

Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views of the holotype (QHU R2025009, adult male) of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. in preservation. Photographs by YHX. Scale bars: 10 mm.

Variation.

Morphometric and meristic data of the type series of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. are provided in Table 4. The paratypes exhibit coloration generally similar to the holotype, with minor individual variation. Notably, QHU R2025010 has an almost spotless ventral surface at midbody, whereas QHU R2025011, QHU R2025012, and QHU R2025013 bear numerous large, dark spots scattered across the venter (Fig. 8). The main differences in morphometric and scalation characters among the type series (n = 8) are as follows: TAL/SVL ratio 1.58–1.75; toes can touch the fingers when limbs are adpressed in specimens QHU R2025010, QHU R2025014, and QHU R2025015; PVSR 51–61; VS 40–43; GS 21–23, GS+VS 61–65; prefrontals in contact in specimens QHU R2025012, QHU R2025013, QHU R2025014, and QHU R2025015; NU 3–4; and F4S 9–10, T4S 11–12.

Table 4.
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Main morphological characteristics of the type series (all males) of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. All measurements are in mm, the abbreviations of morphological characters are defined in the Materials and methods section.

Specimen QHU R2025009 QHU R2025008 QHU R2025010 QHU R2025011 QHU R2025012 QHU R2025013 QHU R2025014 QHU R2025015 Range
Type Holotype Paratype Paratype Paratype Paratype Paratype Paratype Paratype
Sex ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂
Original tail Yes No No Yes No No Yes No
SVL 40.3 42.4 41.0 38.1 40.5 39.6 37.6 40.2 37.6–42.4
TAL 63.7 – – 66.7 – – 60.5 – 60.5–66.7
TAL/SVL 1.58 – – 1.75 – – 1.61 – 1.58–1.75
AGD 22.2 22.7 22.4 20.8 22.3 22.0 21.8 22.4 21.8–22.7
AGD/SVL 0.55 0.54 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.56 0.58 0.56 0.54–0.58
HL 8.41 9.21 8.17 8.57 8.22 8.60 8.15 8.87 8.15–9.21
HW 4.75 4.95 4.52 4.64 4.76 4.82 4.32 4.91 4.52–4.95
HH 3.11 3.79 3.36 3.15 3.43 3.64 2.91 3.98 2.91–3.98
ED 2.13 2.32 2.09 2.27 2.25 2.09 2.07 2.09 2.07–2.32
ESD 2.31 2.36 2.46 2.33 2.56 2.62 2.73 2.71 2.31–2.73
EN 2.00 1.95 1.82 1.53 1.59 1.86 1.82 1.87 1.53–2.00
PDD 0.80 0.67 0.65 0.74 0.78 0.78 0.63 0.75 0.63–0.80
EL 1.47 1.51 1.33 1.47 1.50 1.52 1.32 1.45 1.33–1.52
EL/PDD 1.84 2.25 2.05 1.99 1.92 1.95 2.10 1.93 1.84–2.25
FLL 9.78 9.66 9.67 9.68 9.01 9.44 9.64 9.77 9.01–9.78
FLL/SVL 0.24 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.24 0.22–0.26
HLL 11.77 12.63 12.94 11.77 12.46 12.33 12.56 13.89 11.77–13.89
HLL/SVL 0.29 0.30 0.32 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.33 0.35 0.29–0.35
F4L 1.80 1.82 2.00 2.12 2.03 2.13 1.93 2.16 1.80–2.16
T4L 3.41 3.56 3.67 3.59 3.07 3.01 3.26 3.49 3.01–3.67
PF 2, separated 2, separated 2, separated 2, separated 2, in contact 2, in contact 2, in contact 2, in contact separated or in contact
FrP in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact
P in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact
SO 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 4
SCI 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6
Lor 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2
TEMP 1+2/1+2 1+2/1+2 1+2/1+2 1+2/1+2 1+2/1+2 1+2/1+2 1+2/1+2 1+2/1+2 1+2
SL 7/7 7/7 7/7 7/7 7/7 7/7 7/7 7/7 7
IL 5/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 5–6
Chin shields (pair) 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
NU 3 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 3–4
MBSR 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24
PVSR 51 56 61 56 58 56 57 59 51–61
DBR 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2
GS 22 22 23 21 21 22 21 21 21–23
VS 42 41 43 40 41 43 42 42 40–43
GS+VS 64 63 66 61 62 65 63 63 61–66
F4S 10 10 9 9 10 9 9 10 9–10
T4S 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 11 11–12
SRB 0.5–1 0.5–1 0.5–1 0.5–1 0.5–1 0.5–1 0.5–1 0.5–1 0.5–1
UMLLS wavy wavy wavy wavy wavy wavy wavy wavy wavy
VDM spots spots spots spots spots spots spots spots spots
Limbs adpressed No No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes or No
Figure 8. 

Coloration of paratypes of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. in preservation. A. QHU R2025010, adult male; B. QHU R2025011, adult male; C. QHU R2025012, adult male. Photographs by YHX. Scale bars: 10 mm.

Distribution and natural history notes.

To date, Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. is currently known only from its type locality. All specimens were collected in April 2025 at elevations ranging from 1,850 m a.s.l., under leaf litter and beneath rocks along a shaded mountain trail. The surrounding habitat is characterized by well-preserved forest dominated by coniferous tree species, with some broad-leaved trees mixed in, indicative of a cool, moist montane environment. (Fig. 9).

Figure 9. 

Habitat of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. in Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, China.

During the survey, daytime temperatures averaged ~24 °C, dropping to ~15 °C at night. The skinks were noticeably more active during daylight hours, particularly in the morning and late afternoon, when they were frequently observed actively moving across the forest floor. At night, individuals retreated beneath cover objects and could only be located through careful searching. Fecal analysis revealed small beetle elytra and partially digested crickets, indicating a diet primarily composed of small, non-venomous arthropods, particularly insects.

Comparisons.

Based on both morphological and molecular evidence, Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. is closely related to S. alia, S. chengduensis, S. devorator (Darevsky, Orlov & Cuc), S. fansipanensis, S. liangshanensis, S. monticola, S. potanini, S. qianica and S. truongi Pham, Ziegler, Pham, Hoang, Ngo & Le. Detailed morphological comparisons between Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. and its closely related congeners are shown in Table 5.

Table 5.
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Comparisons of main morphological characters between Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. and eight closely related species of Scincella.

Species S. tenuistriata sp. nov. S. alia S. chengduensis S. fansipanensis S. liangshanensis S. monticola S. potanini S. qianica S. truongi
SVL (mm) 37.6–42.4 38.2–48.2 28.4–43.2 43.5–59.0 43.1–61.9 36.3–53.0 26.6–57.9 27.7–44.8 49.0–59.4
TAL (mm) 60.5–66.7 63.2–84.8 59.9 – 54.4–83.8 – – 49.0–87.9 91.8–100.8
TAL/SVL 1.58–1.75 1.5–1.8 1.59 – 0.96–1.71 1.61 1.02–1.12 1.76–2.14 1.70–1.71
AGD 21.8–22.7 20.6–29.4 / 26.4–35.4 – – – 15.6–25.6 25.3–34.3
AGD/SVL 0.54–0.58 0.53–0.63 0.55–0.61 – 0.56–0.66 0.56–0.65 0.52–0.72 0.56–0.59 0.52–0.59
FLL/SVL 0.22–0.26 0.20–0.27 0.21–0.26 – 0.14–0.22 0.13–0.19 0.11–0.25 0.18–0.21 0.22–0.27
HLL/SVL 0.29–0.35 0.25–0.34 0.23–0.32 – 0.22–0.33 0.20–0.22 0.17–0.31 0.27–0.30 0.29–0.38
EL/PDD 1.84–2.25 1.63–2.18 1.05–1.58 – 1.25–2.38 0.62–1.11 0.79–1.25 1.65–1.92 1.33–1.52
PF in contact or separated in contact or separated in contact or separated separated in contact or separated in contact in contact or separated separated separated
FrP in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact
P in contact in contact in contact in contact in contact or separated in contact in contact in contact in contact
SO 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
SCI 6 6 6–7 5–6 6–7 6–7 6–7 6–7 7–8
Lor 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
TEMP 1+2 1+2+2 1+2–2 1+2 1+2–2+3 1+2–2+2 1+2–2+2 1+2 2+2
SL 7 7 7 6–7 7 7 7–8 7 7–8
IL 6 (rarely 5) 6 7 6 7 7 7 6–7 6–7
NU 3–4 3–4 3–4 2–6 2–5 3–4 3 3 3
MBSR 24 26–28 23 22–24 23–27 23–25 24–27 26 28
PVSR 51–61 56–63 57–60 60–68 69–80 62–80 69–73 61–66 60–67
DBR 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 1/2+4+1/2 6
GS 21–23 22–25 21–22 – 22–29 22–24 23–25 20–24 –
VS 40–43 44–52 42–44 – 43–57 45–52 45–64 46–53 –
GS+VS 61–66 66–76 64–65 58–64 68–82 67–77 69–89 66–75 60–70
F4S 9–10 7–10 8–9 7–9 8–11 8–10 7–10 9–10 10
T4S 11–12 11–13 10–12 10–12 10–15 10–12 10–13 13–14 13–15
SRB 0.5–1 1 1–2.5 – 1.5–2.5 1.5–2 1.5–3 1–1.5 –
UMLLS wavy wavy straight straight straight straight straight straight wavy
VDM spots absent spots absent absent absent absent stripes absent
Limbs adpressed Yes or No No No No No No No No No

Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. can be distinguished from S. alia by MBSR 24 (vs 26–28); VS 40–43 (vs 44–52); GS+VS 61–66 (vs 66–76); and by the presence of dark spots on the middle of the ventral surface (vs absence). It can be distinguished from S. chengduensis by EL/PDD 1.84–2.25 (vs 1.05–1.58); F4S 9–10 (vs 8–9); MBSR 24 (vs 23); and dorsolateral stripes being narrow and wavy, covering ~0.5–1 scale rows on the trunk (vs stripes with relatively straight upper margins, covering ~1–2.5 scale rows). It can be distinguished from S. devorator by MBSR 24 (vs 30); SCI 6 (vs 8); T4S 11–12 (vs 17); and PVSR 51–61 (vs 68). It can be distinguished from S. fansipanensis by smaller body size, SVL 37.6–42.4 mm (vs 43.5–59.0 mm); F4S 9–10 (vs 7–9); PVSR 51–61 (vs 60–68); and presence of dark spots on the ventral surface (vs absence). It can be distinguished from S. liangshanensis by smaller body size, SVL 37.6–42.4 mm (vs 43.1–61.9 mm); EL/PDD ratio 1.84–2.25 (vs 0.14–0.22); PVSR 51–61 (vs 69–80); VS 40–43 (vs 43–57); dorsolateral stripes being narrow and wavy, covering ~0.5–1 scale rows on the trunk (vs stripes with relatively straight upper margins, covering ~1.5–2.5 scale rows); and presence of dark spots on the ventral surface (vs absence). It can be distinguished from S. monticola by PVSR 51–61 (vs 62–80); VS 40–43 (vs 45–52); (3) GS+VS 61–66 (vs 67–77); FLL/SVL 0.22–0.26 (vs 0.13–0.19); HLL/SVL 0.29–0.35 (vs 0.20–0.22); EL/PDD 1.84–2.25 (vs 0.62–1.11); dorsolateral stripes being narrow and wavy, covering ~0.5–1 scale rows on the trunk (vs stripes with relatively straight upper margins, covering ~1.5–2 scale rows); and presence of dark spots on ventral surface (vs absence). It can be distinguished from S. potanini by a comparatively longer tail, TAL/SVL ratio 1.58–1.75 (vs 1.02–1.12); a greater EL/PDD ratio (1.84–2.25 vs 0.79–1.25); PVSR 51–61 (vs 69–73); the dorsolateral stripes narrow and wavy, covering ~0.5–1 scale rows on the trunk (vs stripes with relatively straight upper margins, covering ~1.5–3 scale rows); and presence of dark spots on the ventral surface (vs absence). It can be distinguished from S. qianica by MBSR 24 (vs. 26); PVSR 51–61 (vs. 61–66); VS 40–43 (vs. 46–53); GS+VS 61–66 (vs. 66–75); and T4S 11–12 (vs. 13–14) Furthermore, it can be distinguished from S. truongi by smaller body size, SVL 37.6–42.4 mm (vs 49.0–59.4 mm); MBSR 24 (vs 28); TEMP 1+2 (vs 2+2); EL/PDD ratio 1.84–2.25 (vs 1.33–1.52); and presence of dark spots on the ventral surface (vs absence).

Among the other three Chinese congeners (including S. tsinlingensis, S. huanrenensis, and S. schmidti) that share the character of having four dorsal scale rows between the dorsolateral stripes, Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. can be distinguished from S. tsinlingensis by MBSR 24 (vs 26–28); PVSR 51–61 (vs.70–90); GS+VS 61–66 (vs 83–98); EL/PDD ratio 1.84–2.25 (vs 0.80–1.14); and TAL/SVL ratio 1.58–1.75 (vs 1.24–1.42). It can be distinguished from S. huanrenensis by having MBSR 24 (vs 25–28); PVSR 51–61 (vs 66–79); T4S 11–12 (vs 13–16); EL/PDD ratio 1.84–2.25 vs (0.61–1.14); and TAL/SVL ratio 1.58–1.75 (vs 1.19–1.47). And it can be distinguished from S. schmidti by having MBSR 24 (vs 26); PVSR 51–61 (vs 68–91); GS+VS 61–66 (vs 71–87); and TAL/SVL ratio 1.58–1.75 (vs 1.9). In comparison with the remaining congeners in China, Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from S. barbouri, S. doriae, S. formosensis, S. modesta, S. przewalskii, S. reevesii, and S. wangyuezhaoi by having four dorsal scale rows between the dorsolateral stripes (vs 6–8). Moreover, it can be distinguished from S. barbouri by having T4S 11–12 (vs 15–17); from S. doriae by having MBSR 24 (vs 30–32), T4S 11–12 (vs 15–18); from S. formosensis by having MBSR 24 (vs 28–29), and T4S 11–12 (vs 14–18); from S. modesta by having TAL/SVL ratio 1.58–1.78 (vs 1.2–1.4), MBSR 24 (vs 26–28), and T4S 11–12 (vs 13–15); from S. przewalskii by having SO 4 (vs 3) and T4S 11–12 (vs 17); from S. reevesii by having T4S 11–12 (vs 15–18); and from S. wangyuezhaoi by having MBSR 24 (vs 27–30), and VS 40–43 (vs 46–59).

In addition, Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from other Asian congeners as follows: from S. apraefrontalis Nguyen, Nguyen, Böhme & Ziegler, S. auranticaudata Nguyen, Nguyen, Le, Nguyen, Phan, Vo, Murphy & Che, S. badenensis Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen & Murphy, S. balluca Bragin, Zenin, Le, Nguyen, Nguyen & Poyarkov, S. baraensis Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen & Murphy, S. boettgeri, S. capitanea Ouboter, S. darevskii Nguyen, Ananjeva, Orlov, Rybaltovsky & Böhme, S. dunan, S. honbaensis Nguyen, Nguyen, Le, Nguyen, Phan, Vo, Murphy & Che, S. melanosticta, S. nigrofasciata Neang, Chan & Poyarkov, S. ochracea, S. ouboteri Pham, Pham, Le, Ngo, Ziegler & Nguyen, S. rara, S. rufocaudata (Darevsky & Nguyen), S. rupicola (Smith), S. truongi Pham, Ziegler, Pham, Hoang, Ngo & Le, S. vandenburghi (Schmidt), and S. victoriana (Shreve) by having 24 MBSR (vs 18 in S. apraefrontalis, 34–36 in S. auranticaudata, 30–32 in S. balluca, 32–36 in S. badenensis, 30 in S. baraensis, 26–32 in S. boettgeri, 30–32 in S. capitanea, 28 in S. darevskii, 26–29 in S. dunan, 28 in S. honbaensis, 30–32 in S. melanosticta, 32–33 in S. nigrofasciata, 30–32 in S. ochracea, 30–32 in S. ouboteri, 24 in S. rara, 30–34 in S. rufocaudata, 33–36 in S. rupicola, 28–30 in S. vandenburghi, and 26 in S. victoriana); and from S. punctatolineata Boulenger by nuchals present (vs absent) and T4S 11–12 (vs 13–15).

Etymology.

The specific name tenuistriata is a Latin adjective in the nominative singular (adjusted to the feminine gender of the genus name), derived from the Latin words tenuis (meaning narrow) and stria (meaning furrow, channel; striatus meaning striped). The name is given in reference to the narrow, dark dorsolateral stripes of the new species. We propose the following common names for this species: 细纹滑蜥 (Xì Wén Huá Xī) in Chinese, “Narrow-striped Ground Skink” in English, and “Tonkopolosyi malyi stsink” (Тонкополосый малый сцинк) in Russian.

Discussion

In this study, we combined morphological and molecular analyses of Scincella ground skinks from Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, China, to provide robust evidence for the recognition of the new species. Molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated that Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. is most closely related to S. alia recently described species from northeastern Vietnam, with an uncorrected p-distance of 8.6–8.8% based on the CO1 gene. However, morphologically, the new species can be readily distinguished from S. alia by its fewer midbody and ventral scale rows, and the presence of distinct dark spots on the ventral surface. Moreover, these two species are also geographically separated by a distance of more than 600 km, with the new species occurring in the eastern Wumeng Mountains in China, while S. alia currently restricted to the Tay Con Linh Mountain Range in northeastern Vietnam, though its distribution may extend into adjacent areas of China. This clear geographic isolation likely contributed to their genetic and morphological divergence.

Scincella potanini and S. monticola were historically believed to be widely distributed across the mountainous regions of western China and northern Vietnam (Inger et al. 1990; Zhao et al. 1999; Zhao 2003; Cai et al. 2018; Bragin et al. 2025a). However, with expanded field surveys and the application of DNA barcoding techniques, the taxonomic identities of many populations previously assigned to these species have been gradually re-evaluated. More than half of the Scincella species described in the past five years now placed in the S. potanini-S. monticola complex (e.g., Jia et al. 2023, 2024, 2025; Okabe et al. 2024; Bragin et al. 2025a; Pham et al. 2025). These findings suggest that the actual distributions of S. potanini and S. monticola sensu stricto are likely far more restricted than previously assumed. The discovery of Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. provides further evidence that the true diversity within the S. potanini-S. monticola group remains substantially underestimated and underscores the urgent need for acomprehensive taxonomic revision of this complex.

In addition, consistent with most previous studies on Scincella taxonomy, the phylogenetic tree presented in this study exhibits generally low support at many of the deeper nodes (Neang et al. 2018; Nguyen et al. 2019, 2020; Koizumi et al. 2022; Jia et al. 2023, 2024; Okabe et al. 2024; Pham et al. 2024, 2025; Bragin et al. 2025a, b; Jia et al. 2025). This result likely reflects two major limitations: the restricted availability of genetic markers primarily mitochondrial DNA and the still insufficient taxon sampling taxon across the genus (Bragin et al. 2025a). Together, these factors underscore the urgent need for broader geographic and taxonomic sampling as well as the incorporation of additional genetic data, particularly nuclear markers, to improve phylogenetic resolution and facilitate more accurate species delimitation within the genus Scincella.

The new species Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. inhabits well-preserved coniferous forest at elevations of 1,850 m in the eastern Wumeng Mountains, Guizhou Province. The microhabitat consists mainly of shaded forest floor with abundant leaf litter, stones, and decomposing logs, where individuals were observed foraging during the day and hiding beneath cover at night. This cool and moist montane environment appears to be essential for sustaining the species. From a conservation standpoint, Scincella tenuistriata sp. nov. is currently known only from its type locality in Qixingguan District, Guizhou Province. The restricted distribution and limited number of specimens highlight its potential vulnerability to habitat disturbance. However, given the absence of data on population size, trends, and wider distribution, we recommend that the species be preliminarily assessed as Data Deficient (DD) under the IUCN Red List criteria. Future surveys in adjacent montane areas are necessary to clarify its conservation status and to determine whether it may warrant listing in a threatened category.

Acknowledgements

We thank Bo Cai and Shun Ma (CIB, China) for their assistance with data analysis and manuscript polishing. We warmly thank Tosaphol Saetung Keetapithchayakul (DTU) for help with morphological analysis. We are also grateful to Shuo Liu (KIZ, China), Minh Duc Le (Hanoi, Vietnam), and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Additional information

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Ethical statement

No ethical statement was reported.

Use of AI

No use of AI was reported.

Funding

This research was funded by the Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University [2025-KF-02], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [32301325], the Science and Technology Projects of Xizang Autonomous Region, China [XZ202501ZY0018], and the Russian Science Foundation (RSF grant N° 22-14-00037-P, for supporting the work of N.A. Poyarkov).

Author contributions

Conceptualization, Y.H. Xu, L.F. Peng, T.V. Nguyen, and N.A. Poyarkov; Data curation, Z.H. Gong, J.D. Deng, A.M. Bragin, S.Y. Weng, and T.R. Zhang; Funding acquisition, L.F. Peng and N.A. Poyarkov; Methodology, Y.H. Xu, S.Y. Weng, T.R. Zhang, and A.M. Bragin; Resources, L.F. Peng, T.V. Nguyen and N.A. Poyarkov; Software, Y.H. Xu, T.R. Zhang, and S.Y. Weng; Supervision, L.F. Peng, T.V. Nguyen, and N.A. Poyarkov; Visualization, Z.H. Gong, J.D. Deng, and Y.H. Xu; Writing – original draft, Y.H. Xu, Z.H. Gong, T.R. Zhang; Writing – review & editing, Y.H. Xu, L.F. Peng, N.A. Poyarkov, and T.V. Nguyen.

Author ORCIDs

Yuhao Xu https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6094-6680

Tan Van Nguyen https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5413-968X

Andrey M. Bragin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3621-9763

Tierui Zhang https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1869-9313

Nikolay A. Poyarkov https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7576-2283

Lifang Peng https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9325-7048

Data availability

All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text.

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