Scientists discover a new species of snake

A team of scientists claimed to have discovered a new species of snake in Philippines.

University of Kansas’ Biodiversity Institute’s Jeff Weinell and his colleagues claimed that the Waray Dwarf Burrowing Snake has characteristics that are different to its previous classification.

Weinell, while studying three snake specimens preserved in the institute’s biodiversity collection, realised that reptiles belonged to a new species.

It is pertinent to mention here that the specimens were found during field missions between 2006 and 2012. These specimens of the snake were misidentified untill Weinell, a graduate research assistant, conducted analysis of their scales and skeletal structure.

According to the researchers, the three snakes are now the only new members of the new genus called Levitonius, and new species called Levitonius mirus, CNN reported.

The snakes are about the size of a pencil and were hiding in plain sight. Levitonius mirus is said to be native to the islands of Samar and Leyte in the Philippines.

The study by the researchers, recently published in a journal, revealed that the snake has the fewest number of vertebrae of any snake species in the world.

“I sequenced DNA from a bunch of specimens of that group, and this one was actually misidentified as belonging to (Pseudorabdion). When I got the DNA results back, at first I thought it was just an error on my part, or contamination from the samples,” Weinell added.

The snakes, however, differ in size. The maximum total length of the reptile has been measured at 172 millimetres.

The findings by Weinell and colleagues, based on methods including DNA analysis and CT scans looking at the snakes’ bone structure, were published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Copeia.