when was the new giant species of spitting cobra found in kenya
Naja ashei Differences from other spitting cobras were realized in the 1960s, but N. ashei was initially regarded by most merely as a brown-coloured form of the black-necked spitting cobra (N. nigricollis). Thus, N. ashei was only classified as a distinct species in 2007, by Wolfgang Wüster (Bangor University, Wales) and Donald Broadley (Biodiversity Foundation for Africa). Royjan Taylor (Director of the Bio-Ken Snake Farm in Watamu, Kenya) was instrumental in providing specimens, among them the holotype. The specific epithet honors the late James Ashe,[2] who founded the Bio-Ken Snake Farm and was one of the first experts to suggest N. ashei was a new species.[5]