House Slytherin has just received a new member in the form of a little green reptile.
A new species of green pit viper was recently discovered in India and was appropriately named ‘Trimeresurus Salazar’ by the researchers who discovered it in the Zoosytematics and Evolution Journal.
Its name is based on the famed founder of Hogwarts and House Slytherin in the Harry Potter universe – Salazar Slytherin, most likely due to the gorgeous green scales found on the pit viper.
For those who don’t follow the series, Salazar Slytherin was one of the four founders of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, alongside fellow founders Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw.
Slytherin was born with Parseltongue, the ability to communicate with snakes, an ability we later see in both Harry Potter and Voldemort. It is this ability of his that led to the snake being the symbol of House Slytherin.
The researchers have stated that though the newly discovered snake is called Trimeresurus Salazar, they prefer it to be commonly referred to as ‘Salazar’s pit viper’.
Being a pit viper, the Trimeresurus Salazar is venomous and can be typically found in India and other parts of East and Southeast Asia.
With this exciting new discovery, who knows, maybe we might hear about a new species of lion, eagle, and badger named after the three other founders of Hogwarts one day.