Abstract:
We describe a new species of the genus
Hebius and provide evidence for the validity of
H. septemlineatus comb. nov. . Morphological and molecular analyses of
Hebius specimens collected in Yunnan Province, China, revealed three distinct lineages, namely the newly described
Hebius weixiensis sp. nov. , as well as
H. octolineatus (Boulenger, 1904), and
H. septemlineatus comb. nov. (Schmidt 1925), which is removed from synonymy with
H. octolineatus. Based on mitochondrial genealogy,
Hebius weixiensis sp. nov. is sister to
H. septemlineatus comb. nov. , while
H. octolineatus is sister to
H. bitaeniatus. The new species and
H. septemlineatus comb. nov. showed considerable genetic divergence from their recognized congeners (uncorrected
P-distance ≥3.9%). Furthermore, the new species and
H. septemlineatus comb. nov. can be diagnosed from closely related congeners by a combination of pholidosis characters.