Overview
Formally described in 2022 from specimens collected in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, India, Trimeresurus mayaae—commonly known as Maya’s Pit Viper—was named in honor of the late Maya Sharma, mother of the lead researcher. This venomous serpent belongs to the diverse Popeia subgenus within the Asian green pit viper radiation, distinguished through morphological scale counts, hemipenial morphology, and distinct mitochondrial DNA sequencing.
Biology and Physical Characteristics
Exhibiting classic pit viper architecture, Maya’s Pit Viper features a sharply triangular, heavily keeled head clearly offset from a slender neck. Its eyes display vertical cat-like pupils surrounded by brilliant golden-yellow irises. Its dorsum is an intense, deep olive-green, punctuated along the flank by a bicolored white and rusty-red stripe in males, while the prehensile tail terminates in a distinctive brick-red tip used to anchor securely to branches during strikes.
Behavior and Ecology
Nocturnal and ambush-oriented, Trimeresurus mayaae spends daylight hours coiled immotile in low shrubs, bamboo stands, or overhanging streamside branches. As darkness falls, it uses sensitive loreal heat-sensing pits located between the eye and nostril to detect warm-blooded mammals and birds. Its venom contains complex procoagulant and hemorrhagic enzymes capable of causing localized tissue edema and pain in envenomed prey.
Conservation and Human Impact
Currently treated as Data Deficient, the species inhabits regions characterized by unique sacred forest groves (mawphlang) maintained by indigenous Khasi communities, which serve as crucial ecological sanctuaries. However, expanding limestone mining, coal extraction, and shifting agriculture (jhum) across Meghalaya threaten unprotected lowland forest parcels.
Interesting Factoid
The loreal pit organs of Maya’s Pit Viper can detect infrared thermal radiation differences as minute as 0.003 degrees Celsius, enabling pinpoint strikes in total darkness.
Last updated: October 2026