‘Muscular’ creature with ‘thick neck’ found sleeping in tree. It’s a new species
In a mountain forest of Vietnam, a “muscular” creature with a “thick neck” climbed onto a tree branch and fell asleep “on a tangle of” plants above a trail. Its “jade” green coloring helped it blend in with its surroundings, but it wasn’t quite hidden enough.
Passing scientists noticed the sleeping animal — and discovered a new species.
A team of researchers visited dozens of sites throughout Vietnam and Laos between 2013 and 2024 as part of an ongoing effort to survey wildlife, according to a study published Aug. 6 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa.
Over the course of the surveys, researchers found several “elusive” snakes, the study said. The snakes looked a bit like a known and widespread species, but upon closer analysis, researchers realized they’d discovered a new species: Gonyosoma iadinum, or jade tree snake.
Jade tree snakes are considered “medium-sized,” reaching up to 3 feet, 5 inches long, the study said. They have “slender,” “firm and muscular” bodies, “relatively thick neck(s)” and “long” tails capable of grasping. Their heads are “much elongated” with “rather thick” snouts and “large” eyes “varying from yellowish-green to bluish-green.” n
Photos show the coloring of the new species, which can be “bright green, grass green, or bluish green.” Researchers said they named the new species after the ancient Greek word for “jade” because of its eyes and “body colouration resembling polished jade jewels.”
In between their scales, jade tree snakes have “black and white” skin, which looks almost like netting “when the snake inflates the anterior (front) part of its body,” the study said.
Jade tree snakes live in mountain forests between elevations of about 2,150 to 5,800 feet, researchers said. They are tree-dwellers with an “elusive nature,” “primarily” active during the day and often found in “closed-canopy evergreen forests.”
One jade tree snake was found “sleeping on a tangle of Gramineae grasses and Brainea insignis ferns overhanging a path along a river terrace,” researchers said. Other snakes were found near the summit of a mountain ridge, on a tree “over a slow-flowing stream” and “actively moving across a road.”
So far, jade tree snakes have been found at 11 sites in “central and southern Vietnam and central and southern Laos,” neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, the study said.
The new species is threatened by “habitat loss and degradation,” “road mortality” and “occasionally (being) misidentified and killed due to its superficial resemblance to green pit vipers,” but researchers still considered it a species of “least concern.”
The new species was identified by its scale pattern, body coloring, eye coloring, head shape and proportions and other subtle physical features, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had at least 8% genetic divergence from other tree snakes.
The research team included Nikolay Poyarkov, Andrey Bragin, Sabira Idiiatullina, Tuan Anh Tran, Dac Xuan Le, Patrick David and Tan Van Nguyen.
This story was originally published August 7, 2025 at 9:57 AM with the headline "‘Muscular’ creature with ‘thick neck’ found sleeping in tree. It’s a new species."
