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• Trimeresurus Mayaae, a new species of snake has been discovered at Umroi Military Station in the Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya.
• Locally it is known as U Thlen, it is believed to be a malevolent and evil spirit that takes the form of a huge, man-eating snake.

About Trimeresurus Mayaae

• In Mizoram the snake is named Maya’s pit viper in honour of the late mother of Col Yashpal Singh Rathee, Maya.
• A new cryptic species of a green pit viper is described from northeast India, based on specimens collected from the state of Mizoram and Meghalaya.
• The new species is a member of the subgenus Viridovipera and is sister to Trimeresurus medoensis based on molecular data for mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, whereas resembles Trimeresurus Gumprecht
• A species of the genus Trimeresurus, characterized by
  • hemipenes are short and strongly spinose
  • body green in both males and females
  • interstitial skin black
  • moderate size, with a maximum total length of 750mm
  • conspicuous bicoloured postocular stripe in males, thin and white below, wide and bright red above, faint white or no postocular stripe present in female
  • vivid, wide bicoloured ventrolateral stripe, deep red below/white above in males, extending along the lower half of the tail, white in females
  • eyes rust coloured in males, green in females
  • tail mostly rusty or reddish-brown
  • first supralabial distinct from nasal
  • 19 or 21 dorsal scale rows at midbody, moderately keeled
  • snout covered with rather enlarged juxtaposed scales
  • internasals never in contact, separated by 1–2 scale
  • supraoculars narrower than internasals, separated by 9–10 smooth cephalic scales.

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