A new species of non-venomous aquatic snake- Aquatic Rhabdops dicovered in Western Ghats

A new species of non-venomous aquatic snake - Aquatic Rhabdops, which was misidentified since 1863, has finally been described and identified as a new species from the northern Western Ghats.

The snakes belonging to the genus Rhabdops, are endemic to India and two species namely the Olive Forest Snake and bi-coloured Forest Snake were previously known. While the Olive Forest snake is endemic to the Western Ghats, the bi-coloured Forest Snake is known to a few localities in the northeasters parts of India.

“The Olive forest snake was being reported very commonly from several areas in Maharashtra including Koyna, Amboli and others and while carrying out our regular surveys, we believed that there was some difference in the snake that we were seeing and what was described as olive forest snake in 1863 based on specimens collected from Mananthavady in Wayand District Kerala. We collected some specimens and began working on identifying it,” shared taxonomist and researcher Dr Varad Giri the first author of the findings that was published recently in Zootaxa a scientific journal.

The team conducted detailed study, using both DNA and morphological characters of the historical as well as recently collected specimens from various localities in the Western Ghats and finally the meticulous efforts confirmed the distinctiveness of this new species.

“This new species- Aquatic Rhabdops was previously considered as Olive Forest Snake owing to its similarities in some characters and distribution but we have been able to establish that the Aquatic Rhabdops snake are found in the North western ghats including Maharashtra, Goa and nothern parts of North Karnataka while the olive forest snake is restricted to Tamil Nadu and Kerala,” explained Giri who is the facility In-charge, Museum and Field Stations Facility, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Benagluru.

The team decided to name this new species of medium sized snake after its aquatic nature. “The adults are mostly associated with fresh water streams in the forest and juveniles are mostly seen in water logged conditions, mostly on rocky plateaus. This species is nocturnal, chiefly aquatic and seen foraging underwater like other water snakes. Interestingly the juveniles and adults are differently coloured and this onotogenic colour variation may be due to their habitat preference as juveniles and adults,” explains their research paper.

This work is a result of a collaborative effort between scientists- Dr. Varad Giri of NCBS, Dr. David Gower from Natural History Museum (NHM), Dr. V. Deepak of Centre for Ecological Science (CES), Ashok Captain of Indian Herpetological Society (IHS), Pune, Dr. Abhijit Das of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Sandeep Das and KP Rajkumar of Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Peechi and R.L. Rathish of College of Veterinary Science (CVS), Pookode.