2025/11/07 by R Naveen, Zeeshan A. Mirza, Girish Choure +1 · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Psychology · #Amphibian and Reptile Biology #Venomous Animal Envenomation and Studies #Animal and Plant Science Education
paper · pdf · doi:10.3897/evolsyst.9.170645
openalex publication_date 2025/11/07 · openalex created_date 2025/11/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
The Nicobar Archipelago, a biodiversity hotspot in the Bay of Bengal, harbours several poorly studied and endemic reptile lineages. Several species of snakes from these islands are known to science with just one or a handful of specimens. One such taxon, historically identified as Lycodon subcinctus Boie, 1827, has remained taxonomically unresolved, known only from a single sighting on Great Nicobar Island to date. Recent taxonomic revisions of the L. subcinctus complex enabled us to reassess the status of the population from the Nicobar Islands. Studies suggested that the species is distinct, and a re-examination of museum material and newly collected specimens, combined with molecular analyses, confirms the distinctiveness of the species and is here described as a new species, Lycodon irwini sp. nov. Given its rarity and restriction to Great Nicobar Island, and taking into account potential threats we recommend that the new species be classified as ‘Endangered’ under the IUCN Red List criteria.