Masquerading, deadly snake discovered and named after shape-shifting Chinese goddess

A deadly new snake has been discovered after spending decades masquerading as a much less dangerous species, according to researchers - who named the snake after a shape-shifting serpent goddess from a Chinese folktale. The new species is a type of krait snake found in Southwest China and northern Myanmar and had previously been categorized as the many-banded krait. The researchers named the new snake Suzhen's krait after Bai Su Zhen - a powerful snake goddess from a traditional Chinese myth. Researchers hope the new classification will enable local communities to identify the deadly snake and avoid potentially fatal interactions, as well as help scientists to develop a new antivenom to treat Suzhen's krait bites. This story has been retold in many different formats, including a Netflix original series of the same name, but Suzhen's krait is the first snake to be named after the shape-shifting serpent goddess. "The black-and-white banded krait is one of the snakes most similar to the white snake in nature, so we decided to name it after Bai Su Zhen," the researchers said in a statement. Suzhen's krait is believed to be responsible for a number of high-profile incidents involving herpetologists, including the death of the renowned snake researcher Joseph B. Slowinski in 2001 after he was bitten by one.