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Morphological and genetic divergence observed in Scincella fansipanensis from Vietnam and China, suggesting isolation.
The Fansipan ground skink, Scincella fansipanensis Okabe, Motokawa, Koizumi, Nguyen, Nguyen & Bui, was recently described from Fansipan Mountain, Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam. Herein, we report the first national record of this species from China, based on four specimens collected from Ailao Mountain, Jingdong Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. Morphologically, the Chinese specimens are consistent with the type series, but differ slightly in possessing a higher number of ventral scales (including gulars) and relatively shorter fore-limbs. Phylogenetic analyses, based on CO1 sequences, place the Chinese specimens within the S. fansipanensis clade; however, uncorrected p -distances of 6.5–7.3% between the Chinese and Vietnamese populations suggest moderate genetic divergence. This level of differentiation may reflect historical isolation by the Red River Basin's complex topography and the low dispersal ability of Scincella species. This record raises the number of the genus Scincella species known from China to 15.
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Xu et al. (2025) studied this question.
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