![]() ![]() “It’s part of a group of species that has some odd characteristics,” said Dr. But later that night, the researchers realized it belongs to the rare genus Achalinus, commonly known as odd-scaled snakes. The snake’s strange appearance made it difficult to classify at first. So different, in fact, that we didn’t know immediately what it was.” “That was a really exciting moment,” said Miller. ![]() Graham Reynolds, University of North Carolina Asheville Reptile and amphibian surveys often involve following streams or other natural paths through thick forests in the dark. The crew knew right away that it was a new species. It had dark, iridescent coloration with small, ridged - called keeled - scales. One evening, while on the way to a survey site, the scientists spotted a strange snake on the road. The group spent evenings wading through creeks and hiking through jungles, catching and recording information about various frogs and snakes along the way. They assembled a research group and secured funding from the Smithsonian’s Global Genome Initiative, which aims to collect, store and share the DNA of Earth’s biodiversity with researchers around the world. His Smithsonian mentors encouraged the partnership, and eventually Ari and colleagues wrote a proposal for studying amphibian and reptile diversity in northern Vietnam. Miller first met co-author Truong Nguyen, the Vice Director of the Institute for Ecology and Biological Resources at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, as a freshman in college. “But when everyone’s working on these smaller projects, it facilitates big, macro-evolutionary studies about the evolution of life.” ![]() “When you see these species descriptions come out, they seem like a very small piece of the puzzle,” said lead author Aryeh Miller, a research fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a graduate student at Washington University in St Louis. ![]() This monumental effort depends on local fieldwork and collaborations across organizations. The work supports the broader mission of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network: to sequence the DNA of as many species as possible within the next few years. The international team of researchers surveyed karst forests in the summer of 2019 to learn more about northern Vietnam’s species diversity. The researchers named the new species Achalinus zugorum in honor of the Smithsonian’s retired curator of reptiles and amphibians, George Zug, and his wife, Patricia Zug.ĭense jungle covers the limestone karsts of northern Vietnam, creating a habitat for thousands of unique species. Because of this, they look and behave unlike many other snakes and could help scientists piece together new information about snake evolution. The species is part of a rare genus of burrowing snakes that branched from the evolutionary tree earlier than most other groups. In a paper published today in the journal Copeia, researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the Institute for Ecology and Biological Resources at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology described a new species of snake that they discovered in the Ha Giang province. Many of the species are endemic to the area, meaning they only exist there. In a region of the world already rich with life, these karsts and the lush green forests that cover them create habitats that support extreme biodiversity. Looming limestone mountains called karst formations rise abruptly from rivers, bays and valleys in northern Vietnam. (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists) Scientists discovered a new species of odd-scaled burrowing snakes in northern Vietnam. ![]()
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