By David McFadden
The leptotyphlops carlae. Photo / AP
An American scientist says he has discovered the world's tiniest species of snake in the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados, with full-grown adults typically less than 10 centimetres long.
S. Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University whose research teams also have discovered the world's tiniest lizard in the Dominican Republic and the smallest frog in Cuba, said the snake was found slithering beneath a rock near a patch of Barbadian forest.
Hedges said the tiny snake, which is so small it can curl up on a United States quarter, is the smallest of the 3100 known snake species.
It will be introduced to the scientific world in the journal Zootaxa today.
Hedges christened the miniature brown snake "leptotyphlops carlae" after his herpetologist wife, Carla Ann Hass.
The Barbadian snake apparently eats termites and insect larvae, but nothing is yet known of its ecology and behaviour. Genetic tests identified the snake as a new species, according to Hedges. It is not venomous.
Since Darwin's days, scientists have noticed that islands often are home to both oversized and miniaturised beasts.
Hedges said the world's smallest bird species, the bee hummingbird, can be found in Cuba. The second-smallest snake lives in Martinique. At the other end of the scale, one of the largest swallowtail butterflies lives in Jamaica.
LEPTOTYPHLOPS CARLAE
* It is a type of thread snake, also called worm snake.
* Full-grown adults are typically less than 10cm long.
* It apparently eats termites and insect larvae.
* It is not venomous.
* It is a type of thread snake, also called worm snake.
* Full-grown adults are typically less than 10cm long.
* It apparently eats termites and insect larvae.
* It is not venomous.
