Pit viper in Arunachal has Harry Potter link A new species of green pit viper found in ArunachalPradesh has a Harry Potterlink. The scientific name Tri-meresurus salazar has been inspired by Salazar Slytherin, cofounder of J.K. Rowling’s fictional HogwartsSchool of Witchcraft andWizardry. The discovery by Zeeshan A. Ayaz Mirza of Bengaluru’s National Centre for Biological Sciences, Harshal S.Bhosale of Bombay NaturalHistory Society and four others was published in theApril issue of Zoosystemat-ics and Evolution. The new species is the fifth variety of reptile to have been discovered in the state in a little more than year, beginning with the crying keelback followed by the impressive tortoise, so named because of the striking pattern on its back. The other two species are theArunachal pit viper, India’sfifth brown pit viper but with a reddish tinge, and anatricid burrowing snake similar to the shield tail snake found in the Western Ghats.According to the researchers, Salazar’s pit...
