| Summary: | We described a new species of genus <i>Pareas</i> from Baise City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, based on morphological and molecular evidence. <i>Pareas baiseensis</i> sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of (1) Yellowish-brown body colouration; (2) Frontal subhexagonal to diamond-shaped with its lateral sides converging posteriorly; (3) The anterior pair of chin shields is longer than it is broad; (4) Loreal not in contact with the eye, prefrontal in contact with the eye, two or three suboculars; (5) Rows of 15–15–15 dorsal scales, five rows of mid-dorsal scales keeled at the middle of the body, one vertebral scale row enlarged; (6) 187–191 ventrals, 89–97 subcaudals, all divided, cloacal plate single; (7) Two postocular stripes, the nuchal area forming a dark black four-pointed fork collar with the middle tines shorter than the outside tines. The genetic divergence (uncorrected <i>p</i>-distance) between the new species and other representatives of <i>Pareas</i> ranged from 13.9% to 24.4% for <i>Cytochrome b</i> (Cyt b) and 12.1% to 25.5% for <i>NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4</i> (ND4). Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA gene data recovered the new species from being the sister taxon to (<i>P. boulengeri + P. chinensis</i>) from China.
|