Pit vipers of the genus Gloydius are poisonous snakes distributed mainly in northern Asia, but spread to southern Europe in the case of a species called Halys pit viper ( Gloydius halys) . These small-bodied snakes are quite common and have been irradiated to various habitats.
The two new species, named Nujiang pit viper ( Gloydius lipipengi ) and glacier pit viper ( Gloydius swild) , belong to the Gloydius strauchi complex.
” The Nujiang Pit Viper has a grayish-brown back with irregular ring-shaped black cross bands , wide grayish-brown stripes behind the eyes, and short relativity fangs,” explains Jing-Song Shi of the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. of Vertebrates at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shenyang Normal University in their study published in the journal Zookeys .
“The glacier viper is blue-gray in color, with zigzag stripes on the back and relatively narrow stripes behind the eyes.”
The glacier viper can be found in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Hengduanshan Mountains, Heishui Country, North Sichuan, about 15 km from Dagu Holy-glacier National Geological Park. The discovery of the latter species suggests that glaciers could be considered key factors for the isolation and speciation of alpine vipers in southwestern China.
Referencia: J.-S. Shi et al. 2021. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the genus Gloydius (Squamata, Viperidae, Crotalinae), with description of two new alpine species from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. ZooKeys 1061: 87-108; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1061.70420
