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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.
