A new snake species has been found in the western Himalayas by a team of researchers from various countries. The species has been named after Hollywood actor and producer Leonardo DiCaprio in order to honour him for his efforts towards nature conservation. 

The actor has been actively engaged in spreading awareness about the increased biodiversity loss, global climate change and human health issues due to pollution.

The discovery of ‘Anguiculus dicaprioi’ or DiCaprio’s Himalayan snake was made by the team of researchers from Germany, India and the United Kingdom in 2020. It was made while the team was looking for lesser-known species of snake as a part of a project on India’s reptiles.

The discovery was published in a scientific report and states, the new species have dozens of teeth and is small in size of around 22 inches. It has a broad collar with small brown spots, a robust skull and a steeply domed snout. These species usually live at the height of 6, 000 feet above the sea level.

The study also revealed that they found this snake in western Himalayas in Himachal pradesh where it was covered in mud. Researchers did a deep study of the species by performing their DNA analysis and comparison with other snakes which led to its discovery.

These species are not only limited to Himachal Pradesh but were also found in Nainital, Uttarakhand and Chitwan National Park in Nepal confirmed HT Lalremsanga, a professor in the department of zoology in Mizoram University, and member of the team of researchers.

Apart from  Lalremsanga, the research was conducted by  Zeeshan A Mirza, Virender K Bhardwaj, Saunak Pal, Gernot Vogel, Patrick D Campbell and Harshil Patel.

The snake resembles Liopeltis rappi, a species known to be found in the eastern Himalayas. However, it is different from rappi in various aspects like scales on the head, and general colouration that is particularly found in Sikkim

The researchers stated that the description of a new snake genus and species from Himachal Pradesh emphasises the lack of documentation of herpetofauna in the Western Himalayas. They further added that Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are among the least explored regions for herpetofaunal biota in the Western Himalayas. Their team is conducting extensive surveys in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and preliminary findings indicate that the region's biodiversity has been significantly underestimated.