Under the cover of darkness, a 2-foot-long predator climbed through the treetops in a rainforest of southeast Asia. Its brown eyes scanned the area -- but it wasn't the only one searching.
Visiting scientists noticed the "slender" animal. They didn't realize right away, but it turned out to be a new species.
Researchers decided to study a "widespread" species of snake known as the Malayan banded wolf snake, or Lycodon subcinctus. These snakes had a "complicated" history filled with misidentifications and changing classifications, according to a study published Oct. 10 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa.
During their archival research, the team noticed a 130-year-old mistake: In the 1890s, a researcher mistook a South American snake as a new species of Asian wolf snake. Later researchers updated and expanded the description, but never corrected the original mistake.
The mistake resulted in a population of Asian wolf snakes being misidentified for decades, the study said.
Intrigued, researchers tracked down dozens of these "slender" wolf snakes, analyzed their DNA and compared their appearance to other species. A pattern began to emerge. The "slender" snakes were subtly yet consistently different.
Researchers soon realized they'd discovered a new species: Lycodon neomaculatus, or the Indochinese banded wolf snake.
Indochinese banded wolf snakes are considered "moderate"-sized, reaching just under 3 feet in length, the study said. They have "long" tails, "oblong shaped" heads and "large" nostrils. Their coloring varies from black to gray to dark brown but always includes several "speckled" white bands, researchers said and photos show.
The new species lives mainly in rainforests and lowland forests but has also been found near "plantations, rice fields, abandoned structures, edges of cultivated areas, and villages," the study said.
Indochinese banded wolf snakes are nocturnal. At night, these snakes are found "crawling on the forest floor or climbing in the forest understory," researchers said. During the day, they hide under rocks, wood and plants.
The new species is a non-venomous predator, feeding on amphibians, lizards and "possibly small snakes and small birds," the study said.
Researchers said they named the new species "neomaculatus" after the Greek word "neo," or "new," and the Latin word "maculatus," or "blotched," to combine references of the new species' rediscovery with its previous mistaken names. The new species' common name refers to the area where it lives.
Indochinese banded wolf snakes have been found in six Asian countries including Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the study said.
The new species was identified by its DNA, habitat, coloring, scale pattern, body proportions and other subtle physical features, researchers said.
The research team included Tan Van Nguyen, Justin Lee, Olivier Pauwels, Stevie Kennedy-Gold, Nikolay Poyarkov, Patrick David and Gernot Vogel.