New deadly snake from Asia named after character from Chinese myth 'Legend of White Snake'

[Judi Lynn]

NEWS RELEASE 6-APR-2021
PENSOFT PUBLISHERS

In 2001, the famous herpetologist Joseph B. Slowinski died from snakebite by an immature black-and-white banded krait, while leading an expedition team in northern Myanmar. The very krait that caused his death is now confirmed to belong to the same species identified as a new to science venomous snake, following an examination of samples collected between 2016 and 2019 from Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China.

The new krait species, found in Southwestern China and Northern Myanmar, is described by Dr Zening Chen of Guangxi Normal University, PhD candidate Shengchao Shi, Dr Li Ding from the Chengdu Institute of Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr Gernot Vogel of the Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology in Germany and Dr Jingsong Shi of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at Chinese Academy of Sciences. Their study is published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

The researchers decided to name the new species Bungarus suzhenae - Suzhen's krait, after the mythical figure of Bai Su Zhen - a powerful snake goddess from the traditional Chinese myth 'Legend of White Snake'.

The legend says that, after thousands of years of practicing magic power, the white snake Bai Su Zhen transformed herself into a young woman and fell in love with the human man Xu Xian. Together, they ran a hospital, saving lots of human lives with medicine and magic. However, this love between goddess and human was forbidden by the world of the gods and, eventually, Bai Su Zhen was imprisoned in a tower for eternity. Since then, the Chinese regard her as a symbol of true love and good-heartedness.

More:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/pp-nds040221.php

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The new krait species Bungarus suzhenae. Credit: Dr Li Ding

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-deadly-snake-asia-character-chinese.html

[hlthe2b]

1. Fascinating, but....

Imagine making your way through a deep jungle, scarcely able to see just ahead of you, much less your feet--and knowing these things could be anywhere.

Explorers are badass, but wow.

[Warpy]

3. Most snakes don't want anything to do with us

We're too big to eat and they don't want to get stepped on. Few are gratuitously nasty, it costs them a lot of metabolic energy to produce their venom and they don't generally use it on people unless they're threatened. Here in NM, it's drunk cowboys who try to pick them up and play with them. I've been out here almost 30 years and I've never seen a rattlesnake.

This is a really pretty snake but I don't think I'd want to meet it on unfriendly terms. Fortunately for jungle explorers in their part of the world, they tend to be sluggish and somnolent during the day, perking up at nightfall when it cools off and they start looking for nice, juicy rats or other snakes. Mostly they bite humans who insist on handling them, see: southwestern drunk cowboys.

[hlthe2b]

4. I'm talking about deep foliage in Amazon & other jungles. Typically unknowingly stepping on or near

is how most people ARE bitten--even the larger snakes.

And, I do see rattlesnakes routinely while hiking the CO foothills, to the point I've organized and assisted with setting up snake aversion training for dogs every year for the past decade-- with rattlesnake and bullsnake handlers from West Texas providing the "targets." The available rattlesnake vaccine is quite reactogenic and is helpful only in buying "time" to get help with emergency intervention still required. (That's why human pharmaceutical companies took a deep pass on testing for high-risk outdoor workers).... But training dogs to anticipate and avoid does work. Once trained, they are far more cautious of the errant sniff under rocks and shrubs.

[3Hotdogs]

2. By next October, for or 5 o these things will be imported into Florida and released into

the Everglades. They will join their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Phthon.