A new cryptic species of green pit viper of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 (Serpentes, Viperidae) from northeast India

Abstract

A new cryptic species of green pit viper is described from northeast India, based on specimens collected from the state of Mizoram and Meghalaya. The new species is a member of the subgenus Viridovipera and is sister to Trimeresurus medoensis based on molecular data for mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, whereas resembles Trimeresurus gumprechti morphologically. A combination of characters helps delimit the new species from its congeners. Description of the new species highlights the need for dedicated surveys across northeast India to document its reptilian diversity, as this represents the third new species of the genus to be described in the past three years.

Embryonic development of the neotropical pit viper Bothrops atrox (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae), with emphasis on pit organ morphogenesis and its evolution in snakes

“…In adult specimens of the Crotalinae subfamily, the morphology of internasals exhibits variations. Within certain taxa, internasals are separated by one or more small scales (e.g., Trimeresurus mayaae , Bothrops sanctaecrucis ), whereas in others, they consist of a pair of larger scales that are in contact medially (e.g., Bothrocophias myrringae , Gloydius angusticeps , Porthidium nasutum ) 45,58–61 . The presence of a pair of internasals is a common condition in Caenophidia taxa, whereas the occurrence of a single internasal has not been recorded.…”

“…Within certain taxa, internasals are separated by one or more small scales (e.g., Trimeresurus mayaae, Bothrops sanctaecrucis), whereas in others, they consist of a pair of larger scales that are in contact medially (e.g., Bothrocophias myrringae, Gloydius angusticeps, Porthidium nasutum). 45,[58][59][60][61] The presence of a pair of internasals is a common condition in Caenophidia taxa, whereas the occurrence of a single internasal has not been recorded. Notably, in snakes belonging to the Hydrophiidae family, the absence of distinct internasals is attributed to the possible fusion of nasal scales with the internasals, as discussed by Marx and Rabb.…”

Systematics of Trimeresurus popeiorum Smith, 1937 with a revised molecular phylogeny of Asian pitvipers of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 sensu lato

“…Furthermore, single-branch tests were performed for the approximate Bayes test. The tree was visualized and edited in FigTree (Rambaut 2012). Un-corrected p-distance was calculated for 16S in MegaX and missing data or gaps were subjected to the pairwise deletion option.…”

First record of two species of venomous snakes Bungarus suzhenae and Ovophis zayuensis (Serpentes: Elapidae, Viperidae) from India

“…Northeastern India is part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot (Tripathi et al 2016) and home to approximately 21 species of venomous snakes from the families Viperidae and Elapidae (Ahmed et al 2009;Captain et al 2019;Mirza et al 2020;Rathee et al 2022;Biakzuala et al 2023 and2024). Biodiversity explorations are continuing to reveal new information on snake diversity (Elangbam et al 2023;Biakzuala et al 2024).…”