Two new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata, Scincidae) from southwestern China

The genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 of the family Scincidae is a species-rich group currently comprising 51 recognized species. In this study, we describe two new species of Scincella from southwestern Sichuan, China: Scincella jinchuanensis sp. nov. and Scincella maerkangensis sp. nov. Scincella jinchuanensis sp. nov., collected from Jinchuan County, Sichuan Province, is phylogenetically most closely related to the recently described S. heishuiensis.

It can be distinguished morphologically by possessing a high number of subdigital lamellae on the fourth toe (17–18), and genetically by an uncorrected pairwise distance of 3.82 % in 16 S rRNA and 13.7 % in COI. Scincella maerkangensis sp. nov., collected from Maerkang City, Sichuan Province, is phenotypically similar to S. wangyuezhaoi. It differs from the latter in having fewer midbody scale rows and shows a genetic divergence of 6.38 % (16 S rRNA) and 14.8 % (COI).

Together with S. wangyuezhaoi and S. heishuiensis, the two new species form a distinct lineage that is clearly separate from other congeners included in the study, with interspecific divergence in 16 S rRNA sequences exceeding 3 %. The discovery of these two new species raises the number of Scincella species recorded in China to 19, further underscoring the significant reptilian diversity in the Hengduan Mountain region.