Xu Xian's favorite "Suzhen", scientists went through hardships to discover it

After years of investigation and sample research, a research institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences named a highly venomous krait "Suzhen". This is the first krait named by a Chinese. It looks like this. (As shown in the picture)

Suzhen Ring Snake | Photographed by Zeng Xiangle in Yingjiang, Yunnan

In movies and TV series such as "The Legend of the White Snake" and "The Legend of the New White Snake", "Suzhen" should be pure white, and in human form, she is a beautiful woman in white. (Picture) This is very different from the real "Suzhen Ring Snake".

The real White Snake and Bai Suzhen in "The Legend of the New White Snake" | Source: Film and Television Network

In fact, in order to figure out the newly named "Suzhen Ring Snake", scientists went through many hardships and some even sacrificed their precious lives.

Yingjiang in distress

One summer day in 2015, Hou Mian, a teacher at Sichuan Normal University, prepared to go to Yingjiang, Yunnan for an investigation with his medical kit. Hou Mian is also a well-known snake research expert in the industry, having discovered and named the Hainan Chinese coral snake.

He has been committed to the research of snakebite epidemiology and diagnosis and treatment for many years. When he learned from a call from his good friend Ding Li who works at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences that there was a ground model specimen of double white-ringed snake in Yingjiang, he could not wait to use the summer vacation to conduct a scientific investigation.

The double-banded white-banded snake is a species of the genus White-banded Snake in the family Colubridae. It has the same black and white ring patterns as the Bungarus.

Unlike the Bungarus multicinctus, which is known as the "fourth most poisonous snake on land", the venom of the Bungarus multicinctus is weaker and can usually only kill small animals such as lizards but will not be fatal to humans.

It is included in the "National List of Terrestrial Wildlife that is Beneficial or Has Important Economic and Scientific Research Value" issued by the State Forestry Administration and has high research value.

White-bellied snake and Bungarus fasciatus | See watermark for image source

On the evening of the third day of the car rental inspection in Yingjiang, Hou Mian saw that the mountain road was rugged and difficult to travel, so he asked the driver to wait on the mountainside while he went through the jungle.

About half an hour later, he found a baby snake with a black and white "coat" and very similar to a white-banded krait.

With many years of experience in catching snakes, he quickly grabbed the snake's tail. Unexpectedly, the young snake was small but very flexible, and it turned around and bit the back of his hand. Hou Mian felt pain, and his hand loosened, and the young snake escaped without a trace. The pain on the back of his hand made Hou Mian feel terrified.

He knew very well that after being bitten by a double-headed white-bellied krait or a coral reef snake, the wound would usually not be painful, itchy, red or swollen. But now the wound on the back of his hand was extremely painful, and an area the size of a thumb was beginning to turn black. It was obvious that the young snake was not a double-headed white-bellied krait or a coral reef snake.

The situation was urgent, and Hou Mian had to carry out effective self-rescue within the "golden three minutes" after being bitten by a venomous snake: first, he took out a portable knife for treating snake bites from the scientific expedition medicine box, ruthlessly cut the wound open, and then burned it with a low fire.

Although the treatment was very professional, the numbness that began to appear in his body proved that there was still snake venom in his body. All he had to do was to go to a professional hospital for treatment as soon as possible.

Without bothering to pack the medical kit, Hou Mian ran back to the mountainside in pain, and the driver drove to the city. On the way, he called Ding Li and said that he was bitten by an unknown snake similar to the coral snake.

Ding Li immediately mentioned two key points in dealing with snake bites: First, a bite by a coral reef snake usually causes systemic paralysis in the human body for four hours, and the treatment of bites from unknown snakes can be used as a reference; second, find a specialized hospital with a ventilator and serum for professional treatment.

The driver knew the importance of the situation and drove straight to the city of Yingjiang. He was admitted to the ICU ward of Yingjiang City Hospital, which was established three months ago. After three days and three nights of rescue, Hou Mian was finally rescued.

Continuing research

While Hou Mian was in the hospital, Ding Li, who was far away in Chengdu, became very interested in the unknown venomous snake mentioned by his friend. As an expert in the field of biodiversity and ecological services, he keenly felt that this unknown venomous snake was a new species of krait and worthy of further study.

Snake samples in Ding Li's laboratory | Source: Red Star News

After receiving Ding Li's report, the leaders of the Chengdu Institute of Biology attached great importance to the matter, approved the establishment of a research team headed by Ding Li, and supported them to conduct field investigations and capture new snakes in the southern mountainous areas.

After carefully reviewing relevant information about krait, Ding Li was surprised to find that the situation of an American scientist being poisoned by snake venom more than ten years ago was very similar to Hou Mian's.

The scientist was called Slovensky. He was an expert in amphibian and reptile research at the California Academy of Sciences. He discovered and named the Krait.

In the summer of 2001, when he was conducting a field survey in the mountainous area of ​​northern Myanmar, he was bitten on the finger by a small black and white snake, and the area around the wound turned black.

It was the rainy season, so the helicopter could not land for support. Three hours of CPR by his companions failed to save Slovenski's life.

Ding Li copied the information and put it in the suitcase, then led the team to Yingjiang, Yunnan.

Unfortunately, the trip yielded no results. He did not give up, and for four consecutive years he led his research team to Yingjiang, Yunnan, and Kachin State in northern Myanmar.

Their hard work paid off, and they finally captured the culprit that bit Hou Mian and killed Slovenski in Yingjiang - a black and white krait.

Ding Li captures Suzhen krait | Source: Red Star News

Back at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Ding Li and others conducted professional research on several unknown krait species and found that they had three distinct characteristics that were different from other snakes.

The first is the body rings. They have white rings with black spots on their bodies, which look similar to the non-venomous Sabah chain snake or white chain snake, and are different from the highly venomous Bungarus krait in both size and number of rings. Bungarus krait has 30-50 white or creamy yellow horizontal stripes, while Suzhen krait has 26-38 white narrow horizontal stripes.

The second is the number of fangs. The Bungarus krait and Yunnan krait have four fangs, while the unknown krait has only three. From the perspective of molecular genetics, this is the most powerful basis for identification.

Comparison of maxillary bones of snakes in the family Elapidae (A~C are paratypes of the new species Suzhen krait) | Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences

The third is the bite symptoms. This is the biggest difference between it and the coral snake, which has been confirmed by scientists such as Hou Mian. Not all coral snakes are fatal, and snake bites do not leave obvious marks. The bite of the unknown coral snake will definitely leave black spots (there will also be marks after healing), and if not treated in time, death is inevitable.

In summary, it is fully proved that the unknown krait is an independent species with great research value. After reaching this conclusion, Ding Li decided that the research team should write a paper and publish it publicly. However, before writing the paper, a problem needs to be solved, that is, to name the unknown krait.

Name carefully

If the name is not right, the words will not flow. To be cautious, Ding Li's team held a meeting to solve the naming problem of the unknown krait. The naming of organisms has certain origins.

Initially, new species were named using a binomial system, which is the genus name plus the species name, such as ginkgo and sea deer.

Later, when new species with complex characteristics are targeted, they are usually named after the place or area where they were first discovered, such as the Malayan krait.

If the characteristics of the new species are too complex, it can be named after the discoverer or a mythological figure, such as the Krait mentioned above and the Chiwen snake discovered by the Chengdu Institute of Biology (Chi is one of the nine sons of the dragon in ancient mythology, referring to a dragon without horns).

Chiwen neck groove snake (top is the side view, bottom is the ventral view) | Source: Official website of Chengdu Branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences

During the meeting, everyone agreed that it was inappropriate to name the unknown krait using the binomial nomenclature; it was also not appropriate to name it using a place name because it had already appeared in Myanmar and Yunnan.

Considering that they are highly venomous snakes of the genus Krait of the family Elapidae, the neurotoxins they secrete can easily damage the central nervous system and cause death from suffocation. "(It) is closely related to humans and concerns human life safety. In order to make everyone remember it, we named it after a well-known legendary figure" (Ding Li).

Therefore, Ding Li's team combined the many white horizontal stripes on the body of the unknown krait and found that it is the species closest to the image of a "white snake" discovered so far, so they named it after "Bai Suzhen" in the myth "The Legend of the White Snake", that is, "Suzhen Krait".

Suzhen Ring Snake and Bungarus Bungarus | Source see watermark

In 2021, Ding Li's team published a special paper on the new species of krait in the famous international taxonomy journal "Zookeys", which detailed the discovery process, identification method and naming reasons of the new species.

This is the first time that Chinese scholars have named a species of the genus Krait. At the end of the article, it is also mentioned that the discovery of the Suzhen Krait will help further understand the local resources of biodiversity in my country and provide a useful reference for the epidemiology of snake bites.

The paper was recognized by the academic community. Since then, the "Bai Suzhen", the favorite of Xu Xian in the myth, finally has a scientific prototype!

END

Author: Wei Deyong

Editor: Guru