Context

Researchers studying the genetic makeup of various types of anacondas in the Amazon rainforest have discovered that there are two genetically distinct types of green anaconda — a species previously categorized as a single animal.

About

• It was thought that there was only one species of green anaconda in the wild, the Eunectes murinus (southern green anaconda), but the recent research revealed that the new "northern green anaconda" belongs to a different, new species, Eunectes akiyama (northern green anaconda).
  • The southern green anaconda can be found in Peru, Bolivia, French Guiana and Brazil.
  • The northern green anaconda in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
• The two species split from each other almost 10 million years ago.