Evaluation of the Validity of the Wolf Snake Species <i>Lycodon meridionalis</i> (Bourret, 1935) (Serpentes: Colubridae)

Combining both morphological and genetic data, we assessed the validity of Lycodon meridionalis. Based on examination of the newly collected specimens from several provinces in China, we found that the diagnostic characters proposed in the previous literature to distinguish between L. meridionalis and L. flavozonatus were no longer reliable. The phylogenetic relationships inferred from a single mitochondrial gene (cyt b) fragment revealed a well-supported monophyletic clade formed by L. meridionalis and L. flavozonatus, and the genetic distances between populations were minimal. On the basis of these preliminary findings, we tentatively suggest that L. meridionalis is not a full, valid species, and we synonymize L. meridionalis with L. flavozonatus.