PESHAWAR: An international team of researchers studying snakes in the Himalayas, Hindu Kush and nearby mountain regions has discovered that a venomous snake once believed to be a single species is actually made up of five different species hidden under the same name.
“The snake, commonly known as the Himalayan pit viper or Gloydius himalayanus, lives in the high mountains of Pakistan and nearby regions of India and Nepal,” shared Rafaqat Masroor, a prominent herpetologist and member of the research team, while talking to reporters.
The study, published in the journal ZooKeys, shows that what people had, for more than 150 years, considered one widespread snake is actually a group of five separate species-level lineages.
Three of these newly recognised species are completely new to science, two of which are found exclusively in Pakistan’s mountain regions, highlighting the country’s rich and unique biodiversity.
Rafaqat Masroor, who is also the curator at the Pakistan Museum of Natural History, led the research along with scientist Daniel Jablonski of Comenius University Bratislava, who has been conducting extensive research in Pakistan and Afghanistan for many years.
The research team collected specimens from Kumrat Valley in Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in September 2020. It was there that the holotype of what is now named Gloydius hindukushensis, the Hindu Kush pit viper, was found after being freshly killed by local villagers who had encountered it on a path.
A second new species, G. hazarensis, the Hazara pit viper, was discovered in northeastern Pakistan between the Indus River and the western Himalayan foothills.
A third species, G. nepalensis, the Nepali pit viper, had apparently been sitting in museum collections from western Nepal since the 1970s without anyone realising that it did not belong to the species scientists had assumed it was.
The scientists used modern DNA testing, body structure comparisons, ecological observations and museum specimens collected long ago. Some museum samples were more than 100 years old.
By comparing old preserved snakes through museomics with newly collected snakes from the mountains, researchers were able to uncover the hidden diversity.
The study highlighted the importance of museum collections. Without preserved specimens kept in museums for decades, scientists would not have been able to properly compare past and present snakes.
The findings are also important for public health and conservation because pit vipers are venomous snakes.
“If five different species were hiding within what people thought was only one species, their venoms may also differ,” Rafaqat explained.
Scientists said this created an urgent need to study the venom characteristics of each newly recognised species.
“If someone is bitten by a Gloydius in Pakistan, the identity of the attacking species matters for understanding venom composition and potentially the treatment response,” Rafaqat added.
A better understanding of venom differences could become important for snakebite treatment and the future development of effective anti-venoms.
With five distinct venom profiles now identified, the next step in the research is to map venom composition across all species to guide the development of future anti-venoms.
Conservation experts warned that recognising separate species is important for protecting nature.
A snake once thought to be common and widespread may actually consist of several species with much smaller habitats.
Some of these newly discovered species could be rare and vulnerable to habitat loss, climate change or environmental disturbances in fragile mountain ecosystems.
Pakistan’s northern mountains remain among Asia’s least explored biological regions, and scientists say continued fieldwork, biodiversity research and support for museums are essential to better understand and protect the country’s natural heritage.
“The research study shows that even large and well-known animals like venomous snakes can still hide unknown diversity in remote areas. This unique region has created rich biodiversity that scientists are only beginning to fully understand,” Rafaqat added.
