The world’s smallest snake has been rediscovered in Barbados, 20 years after its last sighting.
The Barbados threadsnake, which had been feared extinct, was rediscovered under a rock in the centre of the island during an ecological survey in March by the environment ministry and the conservation organisation Re:wild.
The reptile can reach up to 10cm in length when it is fully grown and is as thin as a strand of spaghetti. It had been on a global list of 4,800 plants, animals and fungi species that have been lost to science.
The rarity of the snake is a concern for scientists. Connor Blades, a project officer for the environment ministry, said: “If the threadsnake population is not very dense, I am worried about their ability to find mates, particularly if their habitat is under threat and being degraded.”
Blades and Justin Springer, the Caribbean programme officer at Re:wild, had been looking for the threadsnake and several other endemic reptiles for more than a year as part of a conservation project.
During the survey in March, Springer said he jokingly told Blade: “I smell a threadsnake,” while turning over a rock trapped under a tree root. And there it was.
“When you are so accustomed to looking for things and you don’t see them, you are shocked when you actually find it,” Springer said.
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