The smallest snake in the world has been lost to science for 20 years. Now it’s back

The scientists rediscovered a “lost species” of serpent that is so small that it makes a coin seem huge.

A Barbados Serpent (Tetracheilostoma carlae), the smallest snake in the world, was rediscovered under a rock in the center of Barbados during an ecological study in March, according to.

The Barbados Serpent was Lost for science for 20 yearswhich earned him a place in a global list of 4800 lost species of plants, animals and fungi compiled by Re: Wild’s Search for Lost Species.

The Ministry of Environment and Beautification of Barbados has been looking for the snake for over a year, under the Conserving Barbados project ‘Endemic Reptiles, when the discovery was made.

Measuring only 9 to 10 centimeters long in adult size, is in fact a mini snake.

Previous sightings were separated for tens of years and even more complicated by the fact that Cobra-de-Rosca-de-Barbados resembles a lot to Breen Snakean invasive species that was only recently introduced in Barbados.

The differences are so subtle that Scientists need a magnifying glass To distinguish them and, given their small dimension, it is easy to lose the trail to this species.

Now, you did your triumphant return with some stunning photographs. Proof that, although the world advances, Barbados’s snake remains so Adorably small as always.

So how hard it is to look for such a small serpent? “In my view, it is more likely that the larger animals have been seen than the little ones, so if a larger animal goes unnoticed for time enough to be considered ‘lost’, then, in my head, there is less hope that it is still there,” he said Connor BladesTechnical Project Consultant of the Ministry of Environment and National Beautification.

“A smaller animal certainly at the scale scale is already difficult to find. Its disappearance may be less likely because it has disappeared, and more likely because they are very critical or because there are fewer people looking.”

It seems that size can be more significant in terms of how difficult it is to learn something about them, now that they have been found again. It seems that its size can be more significant in terms of how difficult it is to learn something about them now that they have been found again.

“Because they are so small, They are very difficult to study without causing damageso there is still a lot that we don’t know about your preference for habitat or demographics that could help with conservation or planning, ”added Blades.

“ size also makes identification difficultespecially since we have another kind of similar look, the Brahminy Snake on the island, which complicates the assistance of the citizen or reports onlinebecause the identification of these animals should be done personally by experts to ensure reliability. ”

Justin SpringerResponsible for Re: Wild’s Caribbean Program, he said he thinks “a very interesting thing about the snake family (Leptotyphlopidae) of which the snake is part is that, although we know that they eat ants and thermal, they live in thermal nests and free secretions that basically deceive thermal so that they do not attack them-this is very fixed. ”

“There is still much to discover and learn about Barbados’s snake, which also makes intriguing and encourages us to protect it“.

“In Barbados and most of the Caribbean, there is a widespread fear of the snakes and, unfortunately, our endemic Viper and Barbados (Erythrolamprus perfuscus) It was declared extinct for some time.

I think this rediscovery is important to highlight the importance What we have left and also to show that these very small, delicate and harmless snakes are important and need protection. ”

Another argument for your protection is the species lineagebelonging to a group of snakes that diverged very early, known as Scolecophidians.

Are known from fossils dating from the Cretaceous, but are probably original from the Jurassicsince they have a global distribution that suggests that they were once in the supercontinent Gunnaani. When he separated, he took the small snakes and Blades with him that it is likely that the snake has come to bearded from somewhere in the Americas.