Central Ranges taipan
The Central Ranges taipan, or Western Desert taipan, is a species of extremely venomous taipan that was discovered in 2007 by Australian researchers Paul Doughty, Brad Maryan, Stephen Donnellan, and Mark Hutchinson. Taipans are large, fast-moving, and extremely venomous Australasian snakes. The Central Ranges taipan was named one of the top-five new species of 2007 by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University.
Discovery
Dr. Mark Hutchinson, reptile and amphibian curator at the South Australian Museum, caught the immature female taipan while it was crossing a dirt track on a sunny afternoon. The reptile was about 1.0 m in total length, but because taipan species are among the most venomous snakes in the world, Hutchinson did not inspect the creature on site. He bagged the snake and sent it, along with others captured from the trip, to the Western Australian Museum in Perth for closer inspection.Two weeks later, the new species was studied. At first, it was tentatively identified as a western brown snake because of the similar size and colouring; several weeks later, however, Western Australia Museum reptile collection manager Brad Maryan noticed the now-preserved snake had a large, pale head similar to the coastal taipan.
The holotype, nicknamed "Scully" after the X-Files TV character, is an immature snake about 1 m long, which means that scientists do not know the true adult size of the species, though some taipans can reach a total length of about 3 m. This is the first new taipan species to be discovered in 125 years.