New serpent species found | Daily News

A hitherto unknown rare serpent species has been identified for the first time in Sri Lanka by a team of herpetologists at the Kanneliya forest reserve in Galle.The zoological name given to this species is “Dryocalamus chithrasekaraiâ€.

The research team responsible for this discovery comprised Mendis Wickremasinghe and Nethu Wickremasinghe couple, Dulan Ranga Vidanapathirana and Vishan Pushpamal.This team has been engaged in research into reptiles and sub species for a number of years. The relevant research paper on this funding was published in the ‘Zoo Zakta’ international journal on March 6, 2020.

They had come across a serpent of this species in 2009.Two varieties of dryocalamus species had been identified by scientists. Among them is Dryocalamus gracilis reported from South India and Myanmar. The presence of this species in Sri Lanka had been reported by researcher William Haley in 1988. The other species is Dryocalamus nimpha which is endemic to the Dry Zone in Sri Lanka and India. The new species found from the Kanneliya forest.