A New Species of Diploderma (Squamata: Sauria: Agamidae) from Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

We describe a new Diploderma species from Southern Yunnan Province, China. It is morphologically similar to D. chapaense, D. hamptoni, and D. yunnanense, but can be distinguished from these three species and all other congeners by its unique morphometric and meristic characters, color patterns and localized distribution range. Moreover, phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data also supports this point of view; the new species differs genetically from investigated congeners by percentage distance of 8.78 to 21.15%.