Snake photo on Instagram leads to discovery of new species

Student Virendar K. Bhardwaj’s Instagram photo revealed a new species of snake in Chamba, in the Himachal Pradesh district of northern India and near the Himalayas.

The college student was at home due to the country’s government-imposed Covid-19 quarantine, and to pass the time he began to photograph anything he found in his backyard – including the animal in the picture below, gender oligodon. The image caught the attention of Zeeshan A. Mirza, a reptile biologist at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore.

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The snake in question is known in English as ” serpent kukri”, Due to its curved tusks that resemble a kind of knife (kukri) very common in India. At first glance, the animal looks like a common specimen (Oligodon arnensis), but Mirza was able to perceive different characteristics, concluding that it was a new species, named Oligodon churahensis.

The image was originally posted to the social network in June this year, but it was only now, with the relaxation of some pandemic restrictions, that Mirza, along with fellow biologist Harshil Patel, managed to analyze the specimen. . According to Bhardwaj, after being searched by specialists, he managed to find two individuals, which made the work of biologists easier.

“It’s already quite interesting how an image on Instagram led us to the discovery of a snake so beautiful that, until recently, it has remained hidden from the world,” said Mirza. “But what’s even more interesting is that it was the exploration of a simple backyard that led to the documentation of this species. Lately people have gotten into the habit of traveling to ‘hot spots to find new or rare animal species, but if we look closely at our backyards we may find some interesting things here.

The biologist also explained that, compared to other parts of the world, the Western Himalayas are relatively unexplored and are home to several species of animals that have yet to be discovered or that we know very little about.

Data on the new snake species has been published in the scientific journal Evolutionary systematics.

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