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A team of researchers from Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, and the UK have recently made an exciting discovery – a new species of pit viper in Myanmar that shares similarities with its neighboring species, but also has distinct differences.
Identifying and describing new species is a challenging task. Scientists typically look for unique characteristics that can differentiate one species from another. However, variation in appearance can be difficult to quantify. On one end of the spectrum, multiple species can look alike despite being different species, known as cryptic species. On the other end, a single species can have a wide range of variation, creating the illusion of being different species. But what happens when both extremes are encountered at the same time?
Herpetologist Dr. Chan Kin Onn, formerly of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum in Singapore and now with the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum in the USA, led a study describing a new species of pit viper from Myanmar that is both similar and different from its sister species. The discovery was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
“Asian pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus are notoriously difficult to distinguish, as they exhibit a wide range of morphological variation. Some groups contain multiple species that look alike, while others may look very different but are actually the same species,” the researchers explain.
Wow, this is fascinating! I love learning about new species.