‘Secretive’ creature with ‘enlarged’ teeth found in China. It’s a new species
In a forest of southeastern China, a 1-foot-long creature with “enlarged” teeth moved through the foliage. Its “cryptic appearance” and “secretive habits” kept it largely hidden — until recently.
It turned out to be a new species.
A team of scientists visited the mountains of Yunnan province, a known biodiversity hotspot, in 2023 and 2024 as part of a project to survey the region’s wildlife, according to a study published Sept. 26 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.
During the surveys, researchers found two slightly iridescent and unfamiliar-looking snakes, the study said. Intrigued, they took a closer look at the reptiles, analyzed their DNA and soon realized they’d discovered a new species: Calamaria synergis, or the Mountain Jinuo reed snake.
Mountain Jinuo reed snakes can reach just over 11 inches in length, the study said. They have “slender” bodies with “entirely smooth” scales and a “relatively short” tail. Their “small” heads have 16 “enlarged” teeth.
A photo shows the “black-ish-brown” coloring of the new species. Its neck has a pale brown “ring,” and its body is speckled with “iridescent white flecks.”
Mountain Jinuo reed snakes were found in a “tropical evergreen forest” at an elevation of about 3,500 feet, but much about the new species behavior and lifestyle remains unknown, the study said.
In general, Southeast Asian reed snakes “remain among the least understood snake lineages in mainland Southeast Asia,” researchers said. “Their cryptic appearance, secretive habits, and strongly fossorial (burrowing) lifestyle make them particularly difficult to detect during field surveys.”
Researchers said they named the new species after the Latin word for “working together” because its discovery was “the outcome of coordinated international scientific cooperation.” The name also refers to a “broader need for joint action to address the complex” classification of Southeast Asian reed snakes.
So far, Mountain Jinuo reed snakes have only been found at one site in Yunnan province, China, but “it seems highly likely that the new species also occurs in the adjacent mountainous areas of eastern Myanmar, northern Laos, and northeastern Vietnam,” the study said.
The new species was identified by its scale pattern, teeth shape, body proportions, tail shape, coloring and other subtle physical features, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had at least about 8% genetic divergence from other reed snake species.
The research team included Tierui Zhang, Yuhao Xu, Tan Van Nguyen, Nikolay Poyarkov, Gernot Vogel, Xinge Wang and Song Huang.
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 8:14 AM with the headline "‘Secretive’ creature with ‘enlarged’ teeth found in China. It’s a new species."
