Recorded simultaneously in Mizoram, the snake has been named Maya’s Pit Viper after the deceased mother of an Army officer, one of seven authors of a study on it.
The name of the pit viper, recognised as Trimeresurus mayaae, is also believed to allude to Maya, meaning the supernatural powers, or the illusion related to local legends.
The new species was relatively common in Meghalaya, Mizoram and even in Guwahati
In a country where around 1.2 million people have lost their lives owing to snakebite and many more have lost their limbs in the last two decades, a discovery of a new venomous snake means a lot in the context of public health
