Herpetologists discovers new non-venomous snake species in  Mizoram

A team of Mizoram Herpetologists discovered a new species of non-venomous snake that lives far from water sources, unlike its six known sister species.

According to reports, researchers from Mizoram University's Developmental Biology & Herpetology Lab, Department of Zoology, Amity Institute of Forestry and Wildlife, Amity University, and the Society for South-East Asian Herpetology in Germany discovered the new species of snake, Herpetoreas murlen, in Murlen National Park, Mizoram.

The snake known as "lenrul," which translates to "high-elevation snake" in Mizo, is the only one of its species found in India above 1,700 metres above mean sea level.

Herpetoreas murlen is the scientific name for the snake, which was discovered in the 200-square-kilometer Murlen National Park in Mizoram's Champhai district.

The colubrid (Colubridae family) snake, the seventh nominal species in the genus Herpetoreas, has been reported in the latest edition of Salamandra, a German herpetology magazine (the study of reptiles and amphibians).

Furthermore, the specimens used in this study were collected in Mizoram between 2018 and 2021 as part of fieldwork.

"Before the discovery of Lenrul, six Herpetoreas species had been identified, four in India and two in China. Mr. Lalremsanga told The Hindu on Tuesday that three of the four in India were discovered in the Northeast and one in the north.

The new species has a dark olive-grey body, randomly-speckled scales with black on the borders, sparsely speckled inter-scales, and a dorsolateral stripe running from the neck to the tail, and is genetically closest to Herpetoreas burbrinki, its Chinese cousin.

The 461-mm snake's snout was measured at "modestly long," with small nostrils and "quite large" eyes.