Guwahati: A team of researchers from Germany, India, and the United Kingdom has discovered a new genus and species of snake from the Himalayas. Named Anguiculus dicaprioi or DiCaprio’s Himalayan snake, the species is named after American actor, film producer, and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio, in recognition of his efforts to raise awareness about global climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution-related human health issues.
The research paper was authored by Zeeshan A. Mirza of the Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen (Germany), Virender K. Bhardwaj and H. T. Lalremsanga of Mizoram University (India), Saunak Pal of Newcastle University (UK), Gernot Vogel of the Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology (Germany), Patrick D. Campbell of the Natural History Museum (UK), and Harshil Patel of the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation (India).
The snake was first discovered by Virender Bhardwaj in June 2020 while he was exploring his backyard in the western Himalayas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bhardwaj photographed the species and uploaded the images to Instagram. These photos were noticed by Zeeshan Mirza, who spotted them in his Instagram search feed, sparking an investigation that spanned three years.
Initially, the snake was believed to resemble Liopeltis rappi, a species native to the eastern Himalayas. However, the population found in Himachal Pradesh exhibited differences from Liopeltis rappi, particularly in the scales on the head and general coloration. This prompted further investigation, leading to the discovery that the Himachal Pradesh population represented a new species.
Specimens from natural history museums across Europe, the USA, and India were examined, and DNA sequences were analyzed. The DNA results confirmed that this snake did not belong to any known genus. The research team then expanded their work to include DNA and morphological data from related species across Asia. The analysis revealed that the snake from Himachal Pradesh, although related to Liopeltis rappi, differed sufficiently to warrant classification as a new species. Further, both species were found to belong to a new genus endemic to the Himalayas.
The findings were submitted earlier this year and have been published in the international journal Scientific Reports. The research not only identified the new Himalayan snake species but also resolved a long-standing taxonomic confusion regarding the genera Liopeltis and Gongylosoma, which had persisted for 180 years. The study provides a newly revised classification of these two genera, distributed across Asia.
The genus Anguiculus, which includes the newly discovered Anguiculus dicaprioi, currently comprises two species. These snakes are small and found at elevations above 1,500 meters across the Himalayas. The newly described species, Anguiculus dicaprioi, is distributed from central Nepal to the Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh, while Anguiculus rappii is found in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh. These snakes are primarily active between late May and August and are not found at other times of the year. Little is known about the biology of these two species, with Anguiculus rappii being particularly rare, as it has not been recorded for several decades.
“The description of a new snake genus and species from Himachal Pradesh highlights the poor documentation of herpetofauna in the Western Himalayas. The states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir remain among the least explored for their herpetofaunal biota. Our team is conducting dedicated surveys across Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and preliminary data suggests that the region’s biodiversity has been grossly underestimated,” the researchers said in a statement.
The discovery underscores the importance of exploring the rich biodiversity of the Himalayas, which remains relatively unknown and under-documented in certain regions.
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