A new species of green pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 (Reptilia, Serpentes, Viperidae) from western Arunachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

A new species of green pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 is described from the lowlands of western Arunachal Pradesh state of India. The new species, Trimeresurus salazar, is a member of the subgenus Trimeresurus, a relationship deduced contingent on two mitochondrial genes, 16S and ND4, and recovered as sister to Trimeresurus septentrionalis Kramer, 1977. The new species differs from the latter in bearing an orange to reddish stripe running from the lower border of the eye to the posterior part of the head in males, higher number of pterygoid and dentary teeth, and a short, bilobed hemipenis. Description of the new species and T. arunachalensis Captain, Deepak, Pandit, Bhatt & Athreya, 2019 from northeastern India in a span of less than one year highlights the need for dedicated surveys to document biodiversity across northeastern India.

A new species of snail-eating snakes of the genus Pareas Wagler, 1830 (Reptilia: Serpentes) from eastern Himalayas, India

“…The discovery of yet another snake species from the same expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, after Trachischium apteii Bhosale, Gowande & Mirza, 2019(Bhosale et al 2019 and Trimeresurus salazar Mirza, Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande & Patel, 2020(Mirza et al 2020, is not surprising as this region has received less attention in terms of documentation of diversity of reptiles. These discoveries advocate the need for extensive exploration across northeast India as a whole, to document the diversity of reptiles and perhaps other poorly studied taxa.…”

Intraspecific trait variability and community assembly in hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) across an elevational gradient in the eastern Himalayas, India

“…Very few ecological studies have been carried out there despite their global importance. New species, of even distinctive vertebrate taxa, continue to be described from the region (e.g., Athreya, 2006a; Captain et al., 2019; Mirza et al., 2020; Sinha et al., 2005; Sondhi & Ohler, 2011). The entire list of research publications on diversity patterns in the region is a short one: elevational gradient of bird diversity (Acharya et al., 2011; Price et al., 2014; Schumm et al., 2020; Surya & Keitt, 2019), tree diversity patterns and population structure (Bhuyan et al., 2003; Rana et al., 2019), and distribution and abundance of arthropods (Ghosh‐Harihar, 2013; Marathe et al., 2020; Supriya et al., 2020).…”

Diversity and distribution of snakes in Trashigang Territorial Forest Division, eastern Bhutan

“…salazar (Image 12), B. niger (Image 13), and S. macclellandi (Image 14) are recorded for the first time from TTFD. This population was previously called as T. albolabris till the species Trimeresurus salazar got described (Mirza et al 2020). Discovery of higher diversity of venomous snakes which is more than (52%) of total venomous snakes found in Bhutan warrants better medical attention to this problem.…”