An international team of researchers has discovered a remarkable new species of bush viper in Tanzania, East Africa.
Matilda’s horned viper (Tim Davenport / atherismatildae.org)
Dr. Michele Menegon of the Museo delle Scienze of Trento, Italy, Dr. Tim Davenport of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Dr. Kim Howell of the University of Dar es Salaam, found a striking black-and-yellow snake during biological surveys in a remote area of Tanzania.
The newly discovered snake, described in the journal Zootaxa, measures some 2 feet (60 cm) and has horn-like scales above its eyes.
According to the WCS, it is named Matilda’s horned viper (Atheris matildae) after the daughter of Dr. Davenport, Director of WCS’s Tanzania Program.
“The WCS has a number of projects around Tanzania focused on the conservation of important species, habitats and landscapes,” said Dr. Davenport and Dr. Menegon. “Survey work is an important part of our work in new locations in order to assess what is present and what the issues are. In southwest Tanzania we work closely with Museo delle Scienze of Trento, Italy in our biodiversity research. The snake was first discovered as part of on-going surveys in remote forest patches.”
“The snake resembles the Usambara bush viper (Atheris ceratophora), but is considerably larger, differs in scalation and has a genetic divergence of the mitochondrial gene of 3.18 % and an estimated divergence time of about 2.2 million years.”
Matilda’s horned viper (Michele Menegon / atherismatildae.org)
The researchers are keeping the exact location of Matilda’s horned viper a secret, since the snake could be of interest to the illegal pet collectors.
“The illegal trade in wildlife for pets is a big problem in Tanzania with many species of amphibians and reptile being collected in huge numbers from the wild. Given the small size of Matilda’s horned viper’s habitat it is likely that illegal collection would have a very big and detrimental impact on the animals status. So we decided to keep the location secret in order to enable us to set up conservation activities and minimize impact on the snakes future”, explained researchers.
They also initiated a small breeding programme for the new viper to protect it from overexploitation and facilitate the conservation of its threatened habitat.
“Any new discovery brings hope and optimism. This species is not only a large, colorful and charismatic animal, it may also shed light on the complex biogeography of southern Tanzania,” concluded Dr. Davenport and Dr. Menegon.
