Tachymenoides harrisonfordi

Tachymenoides harrisonfordi, also known as Harrison Ford's slender snake, is a species of snake endemic to Peru. The species was first described in 2023 and is named after American actor Harrison Ford. The sole specimen of T. harrisonfordi was characteristically yellow and had black stripes and a length of 407 mm.^[1] The snake was discovered during a 2022 herpetological survey in the montane puna grasslands of Otishi National Park between the Junín and Cusco regions at an altitude of 3,248 metres (10,656 ft).^[2][1]

Tachymenoides harrisonfordi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Tachymenoides
Species:	T. harrisonfordi
Binomial name
Tachymenoides harrisonfordi (Lehr, Cusi, Fernandez, Vera & Catenazzi, 2023)

The survey expedition included researchers from the Peruvian Institute of Herpetology, the National University of San Marcos, the Center for Ornithology and Biodiversity, Illinois Wesleyan University, and Florida International University. The species was named for Harrison Ford due to the actor's work in international conservation as well as for the hatred for snakes exhibited by the Indiana Jones character.^[3]

References

1. Lehr, Edgar; Cusi, Juan C.; Fernandez, Maura I.; Vera, Ricardo J.; Catenazzi, Alessandro (August 2023). "A new species of Tachymenoides (Serpentes: Dipsadidae: Tachymenini) from the puna of the Otishi National Park in Peru". Salamandra. 59 (3): 199–206.
2. Kimbrough, Liz (29 August 2023). "It had to be a snake: New species from Peru named after Harrison Ford". Mongabay Environmental News.
3. "Conoce a la serpiente más famosa del Perú, la Tachymenoides harrisonfordi bautizada con el nombre del actor Harrisond Ford" (in Spanish). Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas. Retrieved 16 September 2023.