Grocott’s Mail: A Snake Named Kelly

The research paper that my colleagues and I published last year, in which we described both a new genus and species of snake, was recently featured in the Grocott’s Mail. The animals in question belong to a large group of snakes called Psammophiinae, that can be found from the Cape of Good of Hope all the way to Uzbekistan. The work of our group helped clarify many taxonomic problems within the group. This resulted in new two new snake taxa, both of which were named in honour of local giants of the African snake world, Dr Christopher Kelly and Professor William (Bill) Branch. The findings of our paper have been featured in five separate newspapers, in the form of two different stories, one written by a professional journalist and one written by me. The first article covered by Daily Dispatch, The Herald, Talk of the Town and The Rep is discussed in detail here: https://nextgenherpetologist.co.za/2020/07/02/eastern-cape-researchers-discover-new-snake-species/. The second article that I wrote myself, and which was featured in the Grocott’s Mail, can be found below.