taxonID	type	description	language	source
000ADEBFFBFF52E68FD02E7D9CB685ED.taxon	materials_examined	Material examined. Holotype. SYS r 002534, adult female (Figs 1, 2, 3 A), collected by Yan-Bo Ma, Yi-Fei Gao on 4 September 2020 from Chengguan Town (33.58 ° N, 108.46 ° E (DD); ca 1731 m a. s. l.), Ningshaan County, Shaanxi Province, China. Paratypes. IVPP OV 2721, juvenile female (Fig. 3 C), collected by Jing-Song Shi on 7 September 2020 from Chengguan Town (33.56 ° N, 108.50 ° E (DD); ca 1751 m a. s. l.), Ningshaan County, Shaanxi Province, China (Fig. 4). Etymology. The specific epithet " xiphodonta " of the new species comes from the Ancient Greek " ξίφοσ (ksίfos, refer to ' knife' or ' blade') " and " δοντι (donti, refer to ' tooth') ", meaning " blade-shaped teeth ", indicating that the new species has unique blade-shaped MT and DT (Figs 5, 6), which differs from the inconspicuous dental specializations (all teeth are cone-shaped) in its congeners. We suggest the Chinese formal name as " 秦皇锦蛇 " (Qin Huang Jǐn She), which derived from Qin Shi Huang (personal name: Ying Zheng or Zhao Zheng; 259 BC- 210 BC), the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of unified China, whose territory including the distribution range of Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. The English name is suggested as " Qin Emperor Rat Snake " or " Blade-teethed Rat Snake ".	en	Qi, Shuo, Shi, Jing-Song, Ma, Yan-Bo, Gao, Yi-Fei, Bu, Shu-Hai, Grismer, L. Lee, Li, Pi-Peng, Wang, Ying-Yong (2021): A sheep in wolf's clothing: Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. (Squamata, Colubridae) and its possible mimicry to Protobothrops jerdonii. ZooKeys 1048: 23-47, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1048.65650, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1048.65650
000ADEBFFBFF52E68FD02E7D9CB685ED.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis. Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following morphological characters: (1) medium body size, SVL 785 mm in single adult female; (2) dorsal scales in 21 - 21 - 17 rows, the medial 11 rows keeled; (3) supralabials seven or eight, third / fourth (right) or fourth / fifth (left) in contact with eye, infralabials 9 or 10; (4) ventral scales 202 - 204; (5) subcaudals 67 - 68; (6) loreal single, not in contact with eye, not in contact with internasals; (7) two preoculars (including one subpreocular), two postoculars; (8) two anterior temporals, three posterior temporals; (9) precloacal plate divided; (10) reduced teeth number in maxilla and dentary bones (MT 9 + 2, DT 12; (11) sharp edges on the posterior or posterolateral surface of the rear MT and DT; (12) top of head yellow, three distinct markings on head and neck; (13) a distinct black labial spot present on supralabials; (14) ground color of dorsum yellow, 46 - 49 entire (or incomplete) reddish brown blotches with black edges on body and 12 - 19 similarly colored spots on tail; (15) ventral surface of body yellow with mottled irregular black blotches, a few irregular small red spots dispersed on middle of ventral scales.	en	Qi, Shuo, Shi, Jing-Song, Ma, Yan-Bo, Gao, Yi-Fei, Bu, Shu-Hai, Grismer, L. Lee, Li, Pi-Peng, Wang, Ying-Yong (2021): A sheep in wolf's clothing: Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. (Squamata, Colubridae) and its possible mimicry to Protobothrops jerdonii. ZooKeys 1048: 23-47, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1048.65650, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1048.65650
000ADEBFFBFF52E68FD02E7D9CB685ED.taxon	description	Description of holotype. Adult female (Figs 1, 2, 3 A). Body and tail slender, TL 967.5 mm (SVL 785.2 mm, TaL 182.3 mm, TaL / TL: 0.19); dorsal scales in 21 - 21 - 17 rows, the medial 11 rows keeled, the vertebral scales not enlarged; head elongate, moderately distinct from neck, longer than width and narrow anteriorly, HL 26.5 mm, HW 18.1 mm (HW / HL: 0.68); eye medium, ED 3.2 mm, pupil elliptic; rostral triangular, broader than high, RW 7.1 mm, RH 4.5 mm (RW / RH: 1.58; RW / HW: 0.39), visible from dorsum; nostril laterally pointed, located in the middle of nasal; nasal divided into two scales by nostril; two internasals, anteriorly rounded, bordered by two large prefrontals posteriorly; frontal single and enlarged, narrowed posteriorly; parietals paired, longer than width, in contact with each other medially, with upper anterior and posterior temporals laterally; one loreal on each side, in contact with nasal anteriorly, preocular posteriorly, prefrontals dorsally and the second supralabial ventrally; one enlarged preocular in contact with eye and supraocular posteriorly, prefrontal and loreal anteriorly, a smaller subpreocular ventrally, and not in contact with frontal; subpreocular in contact with eye and the third supralabial posteriorly, the second supralabial anteriorly, and preocular dorsally; two postoculars, upper one in contact with eye anteriorly, supraocular and parietal dorsally, and upper anterior temporal posteriorly, bottom one in contact with eye anteriorly, with upper and lower anterior temporals posteriorly, fifth and sixth supralabials below on left, and with fourth and fifth supralabials below on right; eight supralabials on left, seven supralabials on right (the third and the forth merged relative to left), first and second in contact with nasal, fourth and fifth reaching orbit on left, third and fourth reaching orbit on right; ten infralabials on left, nine infralabials on right, first pair in broad contact with each other, first to fifth in contact with anterior pair of chin shields, fifth in contact with posterior chin shields, fifth infralabial bipartitioned, lower part obviously larger than upper one; two pairs of chin shields, elongate, anterior pair larger, first pair meeting in midline, posterior pair is separated by three small scales; two similarly sized anterior temporals on left, lower one divided into two small scales on the right; three similarly sized posterior temporals on each side; 204 ventrals, excluding two preventrals; 67 pairs of subcaudals, excluding tail tip; precloacal plate divided.	en	Qi, Shuo, Shi, Jing-Song, Ma, Yan-Bo, Gao, Yi-Fei, Bu, Shu-Hai, Grismer, L. Lee, Li, Pi-Peng, Wang, Ying-Yong (2021): A sheep in wolf's clothing: Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. (Squamata, Colubridae) and its possible mimicry to Protobothrops jerdonii. ZooKeys 1048: 23-47, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1048.65650, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1048.65650
000ADEBFFBFF52E68FD02E7D9CB685ED.taxon	distribution	Distribution, ecology and habit. Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. is currently known only from the Chengguan Town, Ningshaan County, Shaanxi Province, China. The new species inhabits sunny or semi-sunny gravels and bushes on slopes of less than 20 °, along Chang'an River with an average width of 3 m. Elevation of the habitat ranges from 1700 to 1900 m. The vegetation types are Abies fargesii forest with artificial Picea asperata, Salix fargesii, Rubus koereana, Betula albosinensis and Fargesia qinlingensis. The canopy density is 0.75 (Bu and Zheng 2015). The new species is sympatric with Nanorana unculuanus, Scutiger ningshanensis, Euprepiophis perlaceus, Rhabdophis nuchalis, Stichophanes ningshaanensis, Gloydius qinlingensis and Protobothrops jerdonii (Fig. 9). When being captured, the new species flattens its head triangular and releases scent from the cloacal scent glands with smells a bit similar to P. jerdonii. In feeding habits, the fecal samples from the holotype were checked and contained only feathers, indicating that this species is at least a bird-eater. The holotype was observed to prey on captive nesting quail and quail egg.	en	Qi, Shuo, Shi, Jing-Song, Ma, Yan-Bo, Gao, Yi-Fei, Bu, Shu-Hai, Grismer, L. Lee, Li, Pi-Peng, Wang, Ying-Yong (2021): A sheep in wolf's clothing: Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov. (Squamata, Colubridae) and its possible mimicry to Protobothrops jerdonii. ZooKeys 1048: 23-47, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1048.65650, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1048.65650
