As most textbooks and also Wikipedia indicate, the green or common anaconda (Eunectes murinus) is a species of constrictor snake of the boa family (Boidae) endemic to the tropical basins of South America. The largest females of this species can grow to more than seven meters in length and weigh more than 250 kilograms.
With this figure present, it can be considered the largest snake that currently inhabits the Earth, although, by size (length), this position is occupied by the reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus). The Guinness Book of Records lists as the largest snake discovered a reticulated python captured on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, in 1912, which was over 8 meters long at the time it was found.
But from now on, the Eunectes murinus also has to share volumetric merits with a close relative, of almost identical appearance, the Eunectes akayima or northern green anaconda, presented as a new species – after 20 years of research – in a study whose results published by Diversity magazine. (‘Disentangling the Anacondas: Revealing a New Green Species and Rethinking Yellows’).
The distinction between these two species of anacondas has been possible thanks to a detailed genetic study, as explained by the 15 authors of this study, among whom Professor Sarah Corey-Rivas and Jesús A.Rivas, from the Department of Biology of the New Mexico Highlands University (United States).
The E.Akayima lives in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The green anaconda or common anaconda (Eunectes murinus), which will now probably pass to be known as the southern green anaconda, lives mainly in Peru, Bolivia, French Guiana and Brazil.
“There have been a number of animals that have made them separate species based on this geography. However, even taking that into account, it was, and still is, a huge surprise that the two species of green anaconda differ by such a huge amount genetically.” “They are 5.5% different; humans differ from chimpanzees by only 2%,” the authors indicate. New study estimates anaconda species diverged nearly 10 million years ago
The work that is now published also proposes a new interpretation of satos and classification of those known as yellow anacondas by proposing the unification of Eunectes deschauenseei and Eunectes beniensis into a single species together with Eunectesnotaeus. This reclassification is based on comprehensive genetic and phylogeographic analyses, suggesting closer relationships than previously recognized and the realization that our understanding of their geographic areas is insufficient to justify their use as a separation criterion, the authors detail in the summary of your article.
In the graph above, ( a ) E. deschauenseei captured in Beni, Bolivia (B54). (b, c) Anacondas captured in Beni that had markings of E. deschauenseei but were recovered as E. beniensis in phylogenetic analysis (B52 and B58). (d) E. beniensis recovered as E. beniensis in phylogenetic analysis.