Context
Meghalaya, the land of the mythical evil spirit that takes the form of a giant serpent called U Thlen, has yielded a new-to-science, venomous green snake.
About
- Recorded simultaneously in Mizoram, the snake has been named Maya’s pit viper after the deceased mother of an Army officer, one of seven authors of a study on it.
- The name of the pit viper is recognised as Trimeresurus mayaae.
- The new species was relatively common in Meghalaya, Mizoram and even in Guwahati (Assam).
- A species of the genus Trimeresurus, characterized by-
- hemipenes short and strongly spinose
- body green in both males and females
- interstitial skin black
- moderate size, with maximum total length of 750mm
- conspicuous bicolored postocular stripe in males, thin and white below, wide and bright red above, faint white or no postocular stripe present in female
- vivid, wide bicolored ventrolateral stripe, deep red below/white above in males, extending along the lower half of the tail, white in females
- eyes rust coloured in males, green in females
- tail mostly rusty or reddish-brown
- V: 157–162; SC: 54–67 in males and V: 153; SC: 54–55 in females
- first supralabial distinct from nasal
- 19 or 21 dorsal scale rows at midbody, moderately keeled
- snout covered with rather enlarged juxtaposed scales
- internasals never in contact, separated by 1–2 scale
- supraoculars narrower than internasals, separated by 9–10 smooth cephalic scales.
