- NET Web Desk
A team of researchers have rediscovered the blue-bellied kukri snake (Oligodon melaneus Wall) from Manas National Park, after 112 years. It was last collected in July 1908 from Tindharia in West Bengal, about 267 km west of Manas.
According to the abstract of Zootaxa journal, the rediscovery of Oligodon melaneus has been reported 112 years after its original description and document the third, and only non-type, specimen for the species. It was first reported in 1909 based on two specimens, and it has not been seen since.
Images of these specimen have been taken by the nature photographer – Soumabrata Moulick. Blue-belly kukri snake is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. It is endemic to eastern India and was described in 1909 by Frank Wall based on two specimens from Tindharia, Darjeeling at Bombay Natural History Museum (BNHM) and the other at Natural History Museum (NHM), London.
