Morphological and genetic verification of Ovophis tonkinensis (Bourret, 1934) in Hong Kong

Geographically, Hong Kong lies in the putative ranges of two Ovophis species—O. makazayazaya (Gunther, 1864) (Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, Taiwan, and northern Vietnam) and O. tonkinensis (Bourret, 1934) (Guangxi, Guangdong, and Hainan Provinces, and northern Vietnam). It is unclear which Ovophis species is/are present. Previous studies identified O. tonkinensis using morphology, but no study has included morphological and molecular data of the same specimens. In this study, we use molecular (four mitocondrial DNA loci) and morphological data of two specimens to verify the presence of O. tonkinensis in Hong Kong.