A rare blue bellied Kukri Snake was spotted in Assam after a century marking a milestone in the field of herpetology. The rare snake known as Oligodon melaneus, commonly known as Bluebelly Kukri Snake, was recently discovered in the North East State after 112 years of its original description.
Deepak Veerappan, a herpetologist, shared the story of Blue Bellied Kukri Snake on social media and informed that this scarce variety of species was found by his team members at the eminent Manas National Park. He further described that the colour of the snake is brown which is in the collection of BNHS and NHM.
My colleagues found a rare snake from Assam, NE India. the Blue belly kukri snake (Oligodon melaneus) was described in 1909 based on 2 specimens and since then there are no records of this species. It is a small brown snake at NHM & BNHS collection but look at those colors! pic.twitter.com/6igF3DFQCH
Blue Bellied Kukri Snake: When was it last spotted?
Reportedly, the blue belly Kukri Snake was last spotted in July 1908 in West Bengal’s Tindharia Village which is around 267 km in the west direction of Manas.
As per the herpetologist Deepak Veerappan, this rare snake was first described back in 1909 on the grounds of two samples and subsequently, there were no accounts of this variety of snake. Blue bellied kukri snake was first narrated by Frank Wall in 1909 elicited from the two specimens at Natural History Museum in Darjeeling and another one in London.
Blue Bellied Kukri Snake: What do we know?
Blue Bellied Kukri Snake is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. It is endemic to Eastern India. Reportedly, the rare species of snake has a distinguishing feature with its red marking on the back symbolizing the unique beauty of Indian women in red bindi wearing on their foreheads.
Rare zoological specimens discovered in Northeastern states
Abhijit Das of India’s Wildlife Institute says that a major part of discoveries consisting of the zoological specimens have been coming across largely from the parts of Northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram and many more are to be explored in Assam.
In August 2021, another fresh species in the snake family was discovered in Assam after a period of century. The discovery was made by a group of scientists coming from India, the USA, and the US.