New specie, genus of snakes discovered in Western Ghats

Source: The post is based on the article “New specie, genus of snakes discovered in Western Ghats”  published in Hindustan Times on 25th August 2023

What is the News?

A team of researchers has recently discovered a new genus and species of colubrid snakes in Western Ghats. They have named it ‘Sahyadriophis uttaraghati’.

What is Sahyadriophis uttaraghati?

Sahyadriophis uttaraghati is a new genus and species of colubrid snakes.

– Note: The Colubrid  is the largest snake family.It contains approximately 2000 species.Many colubrids are technically considered venomous but very few are considered dangerous to humans. 

Named after: It has been named Sahyadriophis, a combination of the Sanskrit word for the Western Ghats ‘Sahyadri’ and the Greek word for snakes ‘Ophis’.

Found in: It is found in the northern parts of the Western Ghats.

Features: These snakes are mostly active during monsoons and are often found near streams.

– Their diet primarily consists of frogs and their eggs.They are gentle in nature and rarely bite when handled.

– The juveniles bear a big blotch or a collar mark on the nape, which distempers as the animal grows.

– They can be differentiated from its southern counterpart—Sahyadriophis beddomei (Beddome’s Sahyadri keelback)—by a longer tail and higher number of scales on the tail’s underside, known as subcaudals.