<p id="internal-source-marker_0.9140810382535881">Seen coiled around a branch in an undated picture, a new species of snake called the ruby-eyed green pit viper (<em>Cryptelytrops rubeus</em>) has been discovered in Southeast Asia, according to a recent study. The snake lives in forests near Ho Chi Minh City and across the low hills of southern<a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/vietnam-guide/"> Vietnam</a> and eastern<a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/cambodia-guide/"> Cambodia</a>'s Langbian Plateau.</p><p>Scientists collected green pit vipers from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia between 1999 and 2003 and examined them in the lab, using physical characteristics and genetics to identify new species.</p><p>"We know this species from only a few specimens, and very few people in the world have seen this snake," said study co-author <a href="http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/people/staff/003006/research">Anita Malhotra</a>, a molecular ecologist at Bangor University in the U.K. "We know very little about what it does, to be honest."</p><p>Malhotra and colleagues also discovered a very similar species with striking yellow eyes (not pictured) dubbed the Cardamom Mountains green pit viper (<em>Cryptelytrops cardamomensis</em>), which inhabits southeastern Thailand and southwestern Cambodia. Both new species were described in the<a href="http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt02757p023.pdf"> January 23 issue of the journal Zootaxa</a>.</p><p><em>—Brian Handwerk</em></p>