The Discovery of Eunectes Akiyama and the Death of Ana Julia

As some of you might know, a famous anaconda nicknamed Ana Julia was found dead, perhaps shot by hunters. This discovery happened soon after the discovery of what was declared to be the new record holder for longest anaconda at 26 feet. You may have seen the accompanying video of a swimming anaconda with a snorkeling scientist excitedly making hand gestures along side it.

I've heard some reports that Ana Julia was indeed the same snake that broke the record. However, when I looked up Ana Julia, I found a more modest measurement of her length at 20.7 feet.

Around the same time was the announcement of a separate species of anaconda, Eunectes Akiyama, or the Northern Green Anaconda. This new species has a 5% difference in DNA from the Eunectis Murinus, the other, more famous green anaconda. Since these three stories came about around the same time to my knowledge, I had a few questions.

Does anyone know if the 26 footer was a Northern Green Anaconda, or the southern species?

Was the dead anaconda Ana Julia the same snake that broke the record?

Was Ana Julia a Eunectes Akiyama or Murinus?

At this point, is there enough information to determine whether the Northern Green is bigger on average than the Southern Green?

What's the best way to investigate this kind of thing? What are the most trusted herpetological resources to get this kind of up to date info on new species and new records?

Thank you for sharing!