Species New to Science

The Hengduan Mountains Region (HMR) in China, a globally significant biodiversity hotspot, has garnered attention for its potential to harbor cryptic species within the Asian pit viper genus Gloydius Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981. Based on comprehensive morphological comparisons and molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Gloydius strauchi complex, this study identified a previously unrecognized species of Asian pit viper. Discovered in the upper Lancang (Mekong) hot dry valley of Xizang, China, this species is geographically proximate to G. huangi but exhibits clear morphological distinctions from other members of the genus, representing the second Gloydius species identified along the upper Lancang River. We describe here this new species and highlight the significance of skull and hemipenis morphology, which were instrumental in its diagnosis and in resolving taxonomic boundaries and ambiguities within the G. strauchi complex. This study provides insights into the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of this newly described species, enhancing our understanding of diversification patterns in this genus.

A survey of small mammals conducted on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in August 2023 yielded a series of specimens of a distinctive and previously unidentified Neodon species from high-altitude shrubland and grassland habitats at elevations of 2800–4000 m in Lhozhag County, Xizang, China. This study employed an integrative approach, combining molecular and morphological evidence to determine the taxonomic placement of the species. Results confirmed that these specimens represent a new species, formally described herein as Neodon lhozhagensis sp. nov. The new species can be distinguished from all other Neodon species based on larger body size, longer tail, five closed triangles in first lower molar, and obvious interorbital crest. Molecular analysis strongly supported Neodon lhozhagensis sp. nov. as a monophyletic clade that diverged from its sister taxon, Neodon tsonaensis, approximately 0.89–1.68 million years ago. Kimura-2-parameter genetic distances of the complete cytochrome b gene between Neodon lhozhagensis sp. nov. and other nominal Neodon species ranged from 9.3% to 12.8%. This discovery underscores the importance of continued efforts to investigate and document the biodiversity of the Himalayan region.

Keywords: Neodon, Small mammals, Taxonomy, Morphology, Molecular systematics

 

Si-Yuan Wang, Yi-Xian Li, Quan Li, Wen-Yu Song, Hong-Jiao Wang, Shui-Wang He, Kenneth Otieno Onditi, Laxman Khanal, Xue-You Li, Zhong-Zheng Chen and Xue-Long Jiang. 2024. A New Species of Mountain Vole (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Neodon) from south Xizang, China. Zoological Research: Diversity and Conservation. 1(4); 282-289. DOI: doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2097-3772.2024.011 

 Wen-Qi He, Fang-Yu Zhao, Zhao-Fu Chu, Guo-Zhu Chai, Kai-Hui Zhao, Jing-Qin Tian, Bao-Xin Zhang, Fang-Yuan Zhang, Zhi-Hua Liao, Wei-Lie Zheng and Xiao-Zhong Lan. 2024. Leontopodium nyingchiense (Asteraceae), A New Species from Xizang (Tibet), China. PhytoKeys. 249: 181-192. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.249.136846

In 2018, an adult male of a small-sized Tube-nosed Bat (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Murina) was captured at an arid cave located on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in Yushu City, Qinghai Province, China. Despite external morphological similarities with those of M. harpioloides and M. chrysochaetes, the individual in question displays explicit craniodental differences that distinguish it from either species. Morphological and morphometric evidence, coupled with phylogenetic analyses utilizing the mitochondrial COI gene, confirmed that it represents a distinct and still unknown species of Murina, described herewith as M. yushuensis sp. nov. Our research highlights the importance of future surveys aimed at exploring cryptic species diversity in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and adjacent under-surveyed regions.

 

Bauhinia s.s. is a large genus in the family Fabaceae, but its evolutionary and biogeographical history is still unclear due to the scarcity of fossil records compared to the highly diverse modern species in pantropic regions. Here, we report the earliest fossil record of Bauhinia s.s., namely Bauhinia tibetensis Y. Gao et T. Su sp. nov., based on leaves from the latest Paleocene of the southern Tibetan region. Combined with palaeoecological niche simulations and ancestral state reconstruction, the new fossils suggested a Paleocene origin of Bauhinia s.s. in the Afrotropical realm that subsequently dispersed to the Neotropical and Indomalayan realms. Bauhinia tibetensis belongs to the Asian clade of Bauhinia s.s. that reached the southern Tibetan region from the Afrotropical realm via the Kohistan-Ladakh Island Arc in the early Paleocene. This clade spread to south-eastern China during the Oligocene and entered northern India during the Neogene or earlier. The discovery of the oldest Bauhinia s.s. from what is now the southern Tibetan Plateau updates our understanding of the biogeographical history of this genus and demonstrates that the Kohistan-Ladakh Island Arc is an ancient corridor for floristic interchange between Africa and India.

Keywords: Bauhinia s.s., biogeography, diversification, Paleocene, leaf fossil, palaeoecological niche simulations

• Phylogeny of Scutiger suggests an origin of the genus in paleo-Tibet.

• Himalayan taxa evolved probably on southern edges of paleo-Tibet (Transhimalaya).

• Divergence times indicate a Late Neogene age of the alpine in the Himalayan-Tibetan region.

• Results contrast with isotope-based paleoelevation models of the Tibetan Plateau.

The orographic evolution of the Himalaya-Tibet Mountain system continues to be a subject of controversy, leading to considerable uncertainty regarding the environment and surface elevation of the Tibetan Plateau during the Cenozoic era. As many geoscientific (but not paleontological) studies suggest, elevations close to modern heights exist in vast areas of Tibet since at least the late Paleogene, implicating the presence of large-scale alpine environments for more than 30 million years. To explore a recently proposed alternative model that assumes a warm temperate environment across paleo-Tibet, we carried out a phylogeographic survey using genomic analyses of samples covering the range of endemic lazy toads (Scutiger) across the Himalaya-Tibet orogen. We identified two main clades, with several, geographically distinct subclades. The long temporal gap between the stem and crown age of Scutiger may suggest high extinction rates. Diversification within the crown group, depending on the calibration, occurred either from the Mid-Miocene or Late-Miocene and continued until the Holocene. The present-day Himalayan Scutiger fauna could have evolved from lineages that existed on the southern edges of the paleo-Tibetan area (the Transhimalaya = Gangdese Shan), while extant species living on the eastern edge of the Plateau originated probably from the eastern edges of northern parts of the ancestral Tibetan area (Hoh Xil, Tanggula Shan). Based on the Mid-Miocene divergence time estimation and ancestral area reconstruction, we propose that uplift-associated aridification of a warm temperate Miocene-Tibet, coupled with high extirpation rates of ancestral populations, and species range shifts along drainage systems and epigenetic transverse valleys of the rising mountains, is a plausible scenario explaining the phylogenetic structure of Scutiger. This hypothesis aligns with the fossil record but conflicts with geoscientific concepts of high elevated Tibetan Plateau since the late Paleogene. Considering a Late-Miocene/Pliocene divergence time, an alternative scenario of dispersal from SE Asia into the East, Central, and West Himalaya cannot be excluded, although essential evolutionary and biogeographic aspects remain unresolved within this model 

Keywords: Gangdese shan, Lazy toads, Miocene, Phylogenomic, Tibetan plateau, Uplift

 

Sylvia Hofmann, Lars Podsiadlowski, Tobias Andermann, Michael Matschiner, Chitra B. Baniya, Spartak N. Litvinchuk, Sebastian Martin, Rafaqat Masroor, Jianhuan Yang, Yuchi Zheng, Daniel Jablonski and Joachim Schmidt. 2024.  The Last of their Kind: Is the Genus Scutiger (Anura: Megophryidae) a relict element of the paleo-Transhimalaya Biota?  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. In Press, 108166. DOI:  doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108166