‘Chinese’ keelback species not so Chinese after all, find scientists of ZSI
Times of India | 2 December 2025
Kolkata: A non-venomous snake species, previously thought to be present only in southwestern China's Yunnan province, has been present in northeastern India for at least 43 years, but was wrongly identified earlier, the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has found.
While Scottish naturalist John Anderson collected a Yunnan keelback specimen from his China expedition in 1868, the non-venomous snake was recorded by ZSI scientist Dr S Biswas in 1982 in Gibbon's Land in Namdapha Tiger Reserve, about 16km east of Miao in Arunachal Pradesh.
However, Biswas identified the snake as one of the common species of the region. Now, a review of the historical specimens preserved in the ZSI section of the Indian Museum has proved Biswas's discovery as the first record of the species on Indian soil.
Researchers Sumidh Ray, Anirban Das and Pratyush Mohapatra identified one of the original specimens collected by Anderson who had described the taxon "yunanensis" in 1879, based on three specimens then held in the Asiatic Society of Bengal's Indian Museum, later transferred to ZSI.
"Known previously to be only from Yunnan Province in southwestern China, the species' distribution now extends into northeastern India, with the possibility of it occurring in adjacent Myanmar. The discovery underscores the enduring scientific value of museum collections and the importance of revisiting old specimens using modern taxonomic tools," said Pratyush P Mohapatra, officer in charge of the Reptilia section of ZSI.
ZSI director Dhriti Banerjee noted that the organization had intensified faunal surveys across India's border states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
"These focused surveys are crucial not only for discovering and documenting new species but also for confirming the presence of species within India's administrative boundaries," she said. She added that earlier this year, ZSI signed an MoU with the Army to strengthen biodiversity exploration in frontier regions.
Through its centres in Itanagar and Jodhpur, ZSI will work with armed forces personnel to expand scientific surveys across border landscapes.