Enhydris gyii AKA the Color Changing Kapuas Mud Snake
A new venomous snake with the ability to spontaneously change color has been discovered in the forests of the Heart of Borneo.
The snake was discovered by a German researcher who described it with the collaboration of two American scientists in the paper, A New Species of Enhydris (Serpentes: Colubridae: Homalopsinae) from the Kapuas River System, West Kalimantan, Indonesia.
“I put the reddish-brown snake in a dark bucket. When I retrieved it a few minutes later, it was almost entirely white,” said Dr Mark Auliya, reptile expert at the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig in Germany, and a consultant for WWF - the environmental conservation organization.
Dr Auliya collected two specimens of the 2.5 ft long snake in the wetlands and swamped forests around the Kapuas river in the Betung Kerihun National Park, an area in Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo).
The scientists named this slithery critter Enhydris gyii in honor of the late Ko Ko Gyi, an herpetologist who worked hard on the taxonomy of Homalopsinae snakes. They also suggest using “Kapuas mud snake” as the common name.
The announcement of this discovery has been all over the news including this BBC News article sent in by a NewCritter’s reader.
The genus Enhydris, to which the new snake belongs, is composed of 22 species, only two of which are widespread. All the others have a very restricted range. The scientists believe this newly discovered snake might only occur in the Kapuas River drainage system.
To learn more about Homalopsine snakes in general check out this Field Museum site.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Homalopsinae
Genus: Enhydris
This Hip Snake Could Walk! - Najash rionegrina
Here’s another newly discovered fossil from Patagonia, Argentina. What makes it special is that it’s now one of the of the most primitive snakes known, and it slithered with two legs!
Researchers say the snake’s anatomy and the location of the fossil show it lived on land, and was possibly a burrowing animal.
Scientists have long debated on whether snakes evolved from land-based or marine creatures. In general, snakes are believed to have evolved from four-legged lizards, losing their legs over time.
This snake, named Najash rionegrina, was found with a sacrum, a bony feature supporting the pelvis, that isn’t found in modern snakes. It lived an estimated 90 million years ago. Its size is unknown, but it was under 3 feet.
Researchers, Sebastián Apesteguía and Hussam Zaher, published their findings in Nature, A Cretaceous terrestrial snake with robust hindlimbs and a sacrum. You can read the abstract, and click on the link “figures and tables” to see more detailed figures.
The critter’s name comes from a Hebrew word for snake and the Rio Negro province of Argentina, where the discovery was made.
The discovery was also reported on a number of news sites, including:
CNN, Fossil suggests snakes evolved on land
New Scientist, Oldest snake fossil shows a bit of leg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Genus: Najash