Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-11
By: CNA
Taiwanese researchers have made a rare discovery of a new endemic snake species in Taiwan
The Pareas Atayal, April 10. (Photo courtesy of You Chung-wei)
with the help of modern science and named it after the indigenous tribe with which it shares its habitat.
Lin Si-min, a life sciences professor at National Taiwan Normal University who led the research team that made the discovery, said Friday it was the first time in 84 years that a new snake species had been found in Taiwan.
His team has called the snake the Pareas Atayal because it belongs to the genus Pareas and lives in the mountain areas that are the traditional territory of the indigenous Atayal tribe, Lin said in presenting the team’s findings.
The last discovery of a new snake species was made by a Japanese scholar in 1931 when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule, Lin said. [FULL STORY]
