Posted on 03/30/2011 10:33:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
Seen coiled around a branch in an undated picture, a new species of snake called the ruby-eyed green pit viper (Cryptelytrops rubeus) has been discovered in Southeast Asia, according to a recent study. The snake lives in forests near Ho Chi Minh City and across the low hills of southern Vietnam and eastern Cambodia's Langbian Plateau.
Scientists collected green pit vipers from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia between 1999 and 2003 and examined them in the lab, using physical characteristics and genetics to identify new species.
"We know this species from only a few specimens, and very few people in the world have seen this snake," said study co-author Anita Malhotra, a molecular ecologist at Bangor University in the U.K. "We know very little about what it does, to be honest."
Malhotra and colleagues also discovered a very similar species with striking yellow eyes (not pictured) dubbed the Cardamom Mountains green pit viper (Cryptelytrops cardamomensis), which inhabits southeastern Thailand and southwestern Cambodia. Both new species were described in the January 23 issue of the journal Zootaxa.
He does, but he left it in Hawaii and no one can find it.
I would rather we all be considered just people than slots on a chart. The wrapping on the outside of the box doesn’t really matter, it’s the gift on the inside that counts.................
I had a ball python that went missing for about two years. When I was packing up to move, I discovered that he'd found his way under the waterbed mattress, next to the heating pad, but never found his way out. He was essentially mummified.
That looks like Obama’s March Madness NCAA (NAACP?) brackets.
First snake species ever which was discovered because it had sent tweets.
Interesting chart. I’m surprised at the position of the Sardinians. Why aren’t Basques equally distinct from other Europeans? Or even Corsicans—is there that much difference between Sardinia and Corsica?
It must be a Sheen Snake................
Already has....hundreds of times.
But at least he died warm and happy.
People are, on the whole, VERY similar in DNA. There is as much variation between two members of the same group as there are, on average, between groups.
All people are very closely related by common descent according to all available evidence and despite the several posters I have seen on FR talking about a separate creation of different human populations.
Naw, looks like good targets.
Yup. Never held one (nor seen one with my own eyes), but I’ve heard quite a number of interesting stories about it. Also, venom probably will not kill ya, but you may wish it had (and it will definitely destroy whatever finger/digit was hit). BTW, I remember an interesting article some years back of some tests they did on over a thousand species of lizard, and most of them came back as venomous. Come across it? Remember when the only venomous lizards were the Gila and the Beaded Lizard, then slowly some scientists started saying that Komodos have venom glands and venom in their lower jaw (and not just loads of crazy bacteria in their bloody carrior filled mouths causing septicemia when they bite their prey), and then suddenly other monitors had venom glands, and then there were many lizards with venom (of some sort, even if not as complex as the protein mixes of venomous snakes). It was quite intriguing.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicofera
but also,
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100626165747AARQ7a2
Dr. Fry theorizes that a large number of snakes and lizards considered non-venomous are indeed venomous.
Dr. Kenneth Kardong takes issue with that theory, noting, that by Dr. Fry’s definition of venomous, human beings are venomous.
Having been bitten by numerous “non-venomous” snakes and lizards, I don’t take Fry’s ideas about venomosity serious but think hios research is interesting from a pharmcological and possibly systematic perspective.
Not a tree hugger here at all, yet that is just ignorance. One would think one could learn venomous vs non-venomous instead of just ‘fear’.
Snakes serve a great purpose, granted that venomous do not belong near a home.
She was not very selective. She new not to kill bull snakes or racers. Anything else was in trouble around her.
I agree that some snakes are beneficial, but survival instincts from the old pioneer ladies should never be discounted. There are far too many rattle snakes here since CRP came about. We always had them in large numbers along the river breaks (Brazos) but we now regularly kill them around the house at the farm. Many times on the sidewalk at the front door (those are all dead).
Yep...I recall the Bamboo Viper...looks a lot like this guy. We used to call it Charlie Two-Step; you only had two steps before checking out.
Venomous like its cousins Cryptelytrops
Bites are very painful but do not usually end fatally.
A bad bite can lead to necrosis.
Venomous like its cousins Cryptelytrops
Bites are very painful but do not usually end fatally.
A bad bite can lead to necrosis.
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