About

• The snake species is endemic (found only in that specific region) to Northeast India.
• First known as Hebius pealii, this snake was named after Edward Peal, a British tea planter who first collected two specimens of this snake from upper Assam, 129 years ago.

Abor hills 

• The Abor Hills is a region of Arunachal Pradesh, near the border with China.
• The hills are bordered by the Mishmi Hills and Miri Hills, and drained by the Dibang River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra.

Why in the news?

• The Assam keelback snake was rediscovered after 129 years in 2018 by a team from Wildlife Institute of India (WII) near a reserve forest on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
• This snake species was found when a retracing exercise of the Abor expedition happened in 2018.
• WII is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change.

Abor Expedition

• It is scientific exploration to identify the species in abor hills conducted between 1911-1912.