Context
- An international team of researchers has discovered a new species of racer snake named Platyceps josephi from Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and also solved a naming confusion that existed for nearly two centuries.
About Platyceps josephi
- The new species named Platyceps josephi (after late herpetologist Naveen Joseph), has distinct white bands on its body and irregular white spots on its head.
Source: The Hindu - Less than a metre in length, it is a non-venomous terrestrial snake, so far only known from Tamil Nadu.
- Its diet chiefly consists of geckos, lizards and small rodents.
- The species faces a number of threats across its distributional range, including habitat destruction, because the grasslands in southern Tamil Nadu are being actively converted into plantations, farmlands and urbanisation.
- The species’ ability to adapt and its reproductive success is not known.
- IUCN: Vulnerable
Source : The Hindu
Species in News : Click Here