Western Ghats throw up a new snake: 

Western Ghats throw up a new snake: 

Context

• New species of snake has been found in western ghats.
• Scientists have described a new species of non-venomous endemic snake, Aquatic Rhabdops, from the northern Western Ghats.

Aquatic Rhabdops

• The three-foot-long nocturnal snake hunts for prey underwater,
• scientist named the new species after its aquatic nature since the adults are mostly associated with freshwater forest streams and juveniles are seen in water-logged areas, mostly on rocky plateaus,
• Rhabdops aquaticus, was till now considered a variant of the Olive Forest Snake, first described in 1863. However, the new study confirms that the Aquatic Rhabdops is a different one: they sport not only different colours and patterns, but also vary in other features of size, shape and structure, and also genetic make-up.

Endemicity

• all Rhabdops snakes are endemic to India.
• The Olive Forest Snake Rhabdops olivaceus is found only in the Western Ghats
• the bi-coloured Forest Snake Rhabdops bicolor lives in a few localities in the northeast.
• The Aquatic Rhabdops too is found only in the laterite plateaus of the northern Western Ghats in Goa, southern Maharashtra and northern Karnataka, in areas facing severe human pressures.