Three scientists at the Viet Nam Museum of Nature and the Saint Petersburg Institute of Zoology, Russia has discovered and made public a new species of venomous snake.

This new species was described on the Russian Journal of Herpetology, vol. 20, No. 2 2013, based on the comparative evidence of morphology and bone structure with other species of snakes recorded in Viet Nam and China.

The specimens of the new species were collected in Cao Bang, Lang Son and Vinh Phuc, at an altitude of 800m to 1.800m.

The new species is named Azemiops kharini, after Russian zoologist Vladimir Kharin.

This species is the second silver viper species of the Azemiops family and it is the 60th poisonous snake species out of more than 210 species of snakes recorded in Viet Nam.

(Source: VietNamNet)