GUWAHATI:
A new species of venomous snake has been found in Meghalaya. Named after an Army officer’s mother, the new species is called Trimeresurus mayaae or Maya’s Pit viper.
“The snake was seen for the first time at Umroi Military Station. Initially, the snake looked very similar to Pope’s pit viper but the colour of the eyes was different,” said Jayaditya Purkayastha, a herpetologist from Help Earth, Guwahati, who was part of the team that collaborated with Colonel Yashpal Singh Rathee of Umroi Military Station in Meghalaya to discover the new species.
The snake has been named in honour of the late mother of Col Yashpal Singh Rathee, Maya.
The new species was initially thought to be a common species found in Meghalaya, Mizoram and was even spotted in Guwahati.
“A little more investigation found the species and Pope’s pit viper have very different hemepenis (the copulatory organ). Later, the team collaborated with Prof HT Lalremsanga of the Department of Zoology of Mizoram University where he also recorded the same species for Mizoram,” Purkayastha said.
“Zeeshan Mirza of NCBS carried out an in-depth genetic analysis to get a better picture and the result supported the theory of the snake being a new species,” he said, adding that the species is a venomous one and, in this context, the finding is important as it has human health-related implications.
In a country where around 1.2 million people have lost their lives in the last two decades owing to snakebite and many more have suffered, in this context, the new discovery means a lot to public health.
Venom is a complex protein, mostly typical to a species and thus unravelling of a new species will help understanding its venom and its impact on human life and perhaps, will help save lives.
“Other team members who contributed to describing the new species are Lal Biakzuala and Lal Muansange of Department of Zoology of Mizoram University and Siddharth Dalal of Umroi,” the herpetologist added.