The snake, Ovophis jenkinsi, is named after herpetologist Robert "Hank" William Garfield Jenkins who died in 2023.
A new species of mountain pitviper of the genus Ovophis has been discovered and described by a team of Chinese researchers. The new species was found in Yunnan, China. The snake Ovophis jenkinsi, is named after herpetologist Robert “Hank” William Garfield Jenkins who died in 2023. Jenkins had “a passion for snakes, especially pit vipers, and helped China, along with many Asian countries, complete snake census, conservation, and management projects,” the team wrote in their paper describing the new species.
It is medium in size and ranges from dark brown and gray in coloration to a deep orange brown blotching with what the researchers say is a pattern that resembles an open pair of surgical scissors on the front of the neck. It also has a deep orange stripe from the “upper postocual to the anterior nape demarcated from black dorsal head at top.” The adult male holotype is medium sized with a total length of 515.9 mm and a snout to vent length of 421 mm.
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It is currently known only to exist from Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China. Its habitat includes tropical montane rainforest at altitudes of 1,300 meters. It is most active in the autumn is also active at night during light rains and high humidity, the researchers wrote.
“When threatened, these snakes inflate their bodies to make themselves appear larger and strike quickly. The specimen IOZ 002680 had released odour from the cloacal scent glands when captured. We are currently unsure of the feeding habit of O. jenkinsi sp. nov. in the wild. They fed on juvenile mice (Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758) in our captivity observations. Therefore, we presume the species prey on small mammals in the wild.”
The researchers include Xian-Chun Qiu, Jin-Ze Wang, Zu-Yao Xia, Zhong-Wen Jiang, Yan Zeng, Nan Wang, Pi-Peng Li, Jing-Song Shi.
The complete paper, ”A new mountain pitviper of the genus Ovophis Burger in Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981 (Serpentes, Viperidae) from Yunnan, China” can be read on the ZooKeys website.
