Indian herpetologists have discovered a new species of viper family in Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh and named it after Salazar Slytherin, a fictional character in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020
Key-Points
The viper called Trimeresurus Salazar. It has a unique orange to reddish stripe present on the head and body in males.
The pit vipers belong to the genus Trimeresurus and are distributed widely across East and South-East Asia.
This is the second species discovered within the course of the expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, which reflects the poor nature of biodiversity documentation across North-East India.
Dedicated surveys in the future conducted across north-eastern India will help document biodiversity, which is under threat from numerous development activities that include road widening, agriculture, and hydro-electric projects.
