For more than 160 years, scientists believed a single venomous snake lived in the high mountains of Asia. They had a name for it, a description from 1864, and even a preserved specimen in a London museum. They were completely wrong.
An international team of researchers has discovered that the Himalayan pit viper is not one species but five distinct species. Three of them were entirely new to science. The findings were published in the journal ZooKeys.
The three newly named snakes are the Hindu Kush Pitviper, the Hazara Pitviper and the Nepali Pitviper. Two of these species live only in the mountains of Pakistan. The Hindu Kush Pitviper is found in the rugged northwest, while the Hazara Pitviper lives in the northeast, between the Indus River and the Himalaya foothills.
The team used integrative taxonomy, combining genetic analysis, body shape, skeletal anatomy and ecological observation. Pit vipers look very similar to the human eye, but their genes, bones and habitats told different stories.
The researchers extracted DNA from museum specimens collected in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most important specimen was over 160 years old and had been held in a British museum. This ancient snake was the original reference specimen from 1864.
The discovery is important because these snakes are venomous. Different species may carry different venoms. Understanding which species a person encounters matters for treatment after a bite. The team now plans to study venom across all five species to develop better antivenoms for people living in these mountains.