Researchers from Mizoram University discover new Herpetoreas snake species

Prof. H.T. Lalremsanga, a professor from the Zoology department of Mizoram University (MZU) and his research scholar Lalbiakzuala along with Vietnamese herpetologist Tan Nguyen and German herpetologist Gernot Vogel have discovered a new species of  Herpetoreas  snake from the Rakhine Yoma Elephant Wildlife Sanctuary in  Myanmar’s Rakhine state.  The new species was named  Herpetoreas  davidi after a well-known French reptile taxonomist Patrick David as an honour for his  contribution to the systematics of snakes of the family Natricidae and to the Asian snake fauna in general, Lalremsanga said.

The new  Herpetoreas  davidi   species was found while studying the  taxonomic structure, DNA , morphological and scalation characters of the Herpetoreas snake in Mizoram and its neighbouring states and countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries, he said. The findings of the new research were published in the European Journal of Taxonomy volume-932 on Saturday.According to Lalremsanga, Herpetoreas davidi  is a non-venomous sake, which is small in size and short, measuring about 1.9 feet to 1.11 feet.

So far, it is known only from mountain forests in two locations within Rakhine Yoma Elephant Sanctuary,  in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, he said. The new species Herpetoreas davidi is completely geographically isolated from the species of Herpetoreas, he said. It is distributed at low elevations in temperature between  28°C to 31°C and a relatively humid area, he said.