Subspecies:

Takydromus kuehnei vietnamensis  ZIEGLER & BISCHOFF, 1999

Types:

Holotype: ZFMK 70342

Terra Typica:

Vietnam, Provinz Ha Tinh, Lowland moist forest reserve Ky Anh - Ke Go (18°01` N, 106°04` E, 350 m a.s.l.)

Relevant taxonomic literature:

• Ziegler, T. & Bischoff, W. (1999) -  Takydromus (Platyplacopus) kuehnei vietnamensis ssp.n., eine neue Schnelläufereidechsen-Unterart aus Vietnam. -  Salamandra, Rheinbach, 35 (4): 209-226.    

  ×

  Takydromus (Platyplacopus) kuehnei vietnamensis ssp. n., a new subspecies of grass lizard from Vietnam (Reptilia: Squamata: Lacertidae). Vietnamese Takydromus (Platyplacopus) kuehnei, recently recorded for the first time from this country, are described as a new subspecies. So far, the species was known only from China. The description is based on differences in colour pattern and scalation. In pholidosis T. (P.) kuehnei vietnamensis ssp. n. differs·from the Chinese nominal form mainly by usually having occipital and interparietal not in contact, the gulars reaching only the third pair of chinshields, the dorsal head shields stronger keeled, and, especially in females, distinctly enlarged scales on the lower flanks, as weil as higher numbers of supratemporals, supraciliary granules, and scales between tympanicum and supratemporals. Concerning colour pattern the males of the new subspecies are characterized by having only feebly marked, shorter, and more slender light lateral dorsal stripes, which are not distinctly framed medially by dark pattern; in the females the darker upper flanks are more distinctly set off against the lighter lower flanks. More material has to show whether the holotype of Platyplacopus kuehnei carinatus GRESS1TT, 1938 from Hainan, which shows an unusual pholidosis, is in fact synonymous with the nominal form. We demonstrate that some of the Vietnamese records of T. wolteri are based on misidentified T. kuehnei and also on T. sexlineatus, so that the occurrence of the otherwise strictly Palearctic T. wolteri in northern Vietnam must be seriously doubted. To prevent further confusion in view of some unclear identification keys available for Vietnam`s lizards. we proYide a short diagnosis of T. kuehnei and T. wolteri. Finally, the distributional and ecological data currently available for T. kuehnei are summa- rized.