An international team of scientists has discovered that the venomous Himalayan pit viper (Gloydius himalayanus) has been five separate species all along – three of them never documented before.
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The Himalayan pit viper can be found along the southern slopes of the Himalayas in Pakistan, India and Nepal. According to findings published in the open access journal ZooKeys, five distinct species have now been recognised within the group:
- The previously documented Gloydius himalayanus
- Gloydius chambensis, documented in 2022
- Three previously unrecognised lineages: one from the Hindu Kush of north-western Pakistan, one from the Hazara region of north-eastern Pakistan, and one from the Himalayas of western and central Nepal.
In the last decade, eight new species in the Gloydius genus have been described (making it 26 in total). However, most of these have been focused on Central and Eastern Asia, leaving large parts of the Himalayas and the adjacent Hindu Kush underexplored.
This is due to various reasons: the region’s rugged terrain, limited road access, and complex socio-political situation (particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan territories). All these factors contribute to limited sampling, and in turn to the absence of analyses combining multiple scientific methods.
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Researchers didn’t just find these snakes and decide they were different species – this study combined genetic data, distribution records, bone structure, physical appearance, and ecological evidence to build the case. It also incorporated newly collected material as well as DNA sequences collected from 19th- and early 20th-century museum specimens. One of them was the original specimen of the Himalayan pit viper that aided scientists in identifying the snake back in the 19th century.
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“Museum specimens are not just records of the past. They are active research tools and essential infrastructure for future science," says Sylvia Hofmann from the Museum Koenig, Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change.
"Some of the key evidence had been sitting in museum collections for more than a hundred years. We just didn't have the tools to recognise it. As analytical methods continue to improve, the scientific value of these collections will only grow and reveal biodiversity we didn't even know was there."
Why the pit viper matters
As the research paper outlines, this region’s mountains naturally isolate animal populations from one another – and over time, that isolation drives them to evolve in different directions, making it particularly important for taxonomic research.
The study compiled a dataset of 194 location records assigned to specimens of the G. himalayanus species complex – the largest dataset ever assembled for this group of snakes. Together, these records map the snakes across a vast stretch of terrain, from the Hindu Kush in Pakistan, across the Himalayas, all the way to central Nepal.
The bulk of these records comes from north-western India (135), with fewer from Pakistan (33) and Nepal (26). This record of distribution likely says as much about where researchers have been able to go as it does about the snakes themselves.
Pit vipers, as well as other reptiles and amphibians, are a crucial piece of their ecosystems, acting as predators, controlling pest populations, and serving as early warning signs of environmental change.
The study describes the Himalayan pit viper complex as “narrowly distributed and potentially regionally threatened” – a reminder that you cannot protect a species you don’t know exists.
"Our work aims to close these gaps in knowledge and to lay the groundwork and provide inspiration for further, in-depth studies on this ecologically and medically relevant group," says Frank Tillack of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research.
"Pakistan's high mountains are still full of biological surprises," adds Rafaqat Masroor of the Pakistan Museum of Natural History.
Read the full findings here.
Top image: Gloydius himalayanus, also known as the Himalayan pit viper, Himalayas in Pakistan. Credit: ePhotocorp/Getty Images
