White Snake: New, Deadly Snake Species Named After A Chinese Goddess
KEY POINTS
It belongs to a group of snakes that are known to be quite deadly
The newly identified snake species killed famed herpetologist Joseph B. Slowinski in 2001
Researchers have finally identified the mysterious deadly snake species that killed famed herpetologist Joseph B. Slowinski two decades ago and determined that it s an entirely new one belonging to krait. The new species was named after a Chinese legend goddess that s known to be the symbol of true love.
While on a mission in Myanmar in 2001, Slowinski died after being bitten by a mysterious young black and white krait snake. Now, after analyzing samples collected in Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China, between 2016 and 2019, researchers confirm that the snake is a new krait species. They named it Bungarus suzhenae, after the most powerful snake goddess Bai Su Zhen in the Legend of the White Snake.
Credit: Jingsong Shi
In 2001, the famous herpetologist Joseph B. Slowinski died from snakebite by an immature black-and-white banded krait, while leading an expedition team in northern Myanmar. The very krait that caused his death is now confirmed to belong to the same species identified as a new to science venomous snake, following an examination of samples collected between 2016 and 2019 from Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China.
The new krait species, found in Southwestern China and Northern Myanmar, is described by Dr Zening Chen of Guangxi Normal University, PhD candidate Shengchao Shi, Dr Li Ding from the Chengdu Institute of Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr Gernot Vogel of the Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology in Germany and Dr Jingsong Shi of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at Chinese Academy of Sciences. Their study is published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal
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