Discover the world's smallest snake in Barbados

The world's smallest snake has just been discovered on the Caribbean island of Barbados. When mature, the snake only reaches an average length of less than 4 inches (about 10 centimeters). Evolutionary Professor Blair Hedges in Pennsylvania is the one who discovered the tiny snake like spaghetti noodles. It is so small that it can rest comfortably on the 25-cent coin of the United States. Hedges and his colleagues also discovered the world's smallest frog and lizard species in the Caribbean island. The latest discovery is published in the August 4 issue of Zootaxa.

Hedges found new snakes in the piece of rain forest in Barbados west. He believes that this snake is rare because most of its habitat is now replaced by houses and farms. He said: 'Destruction of habitat is the biggest threat to ecological diversity anywhere in the world. The Caribbean is particularly vulnerable because it is home to an unusually high proportion of endangered species. They live on the island, and they have nowhere else to go if their homes are taken away. '

Hedges found that the Barbados snakes are new to science when it comes to its genetic differences with other snakes as well as the specific color and scale. He also suggested that some of the ancient exhibits at the museum that scientists have mistakenly identified are actually this newly discovered snake.

Scientists use mature individuals to compare sizes because the size of the adult does not change as much as the size of the offspring. Moreover the young are more difficult to find. In addition, scientists also determined the size of males and females of a species to know the average size of that species. By these methods, Hedges learned that the snake Leptotyphlops carlae is the smallest of the 3100 known snakes.

According to Hedges, the smallest and largest snakes can be found on the Caribbean island, where they evolve over time to fill the ecological gap in habitats without the presence of certain creatures. These gaps exist because some types of creatures do not reach the island by chance. For example, if a species of multi-legged animal is not found on the island, the snake can evolve into a very small species to fill the ecological gap of the missing animal.

The snake, called Leptotyphlops carlae, is as small as a spaghetti spaghetti on a 25-cent coin in the United States.Blair Hedges - Penn State University professor of biology has discovered this tiny snake, he also identified it as the smallest of the 3100 snakes known today.(Photo: Blair Hedges, Pennsylvania)

Hedges argues that the tiny snake in Barbados may have reached or nearly reached the minimum size for snakes in general , although he cannot say for sure that no smaller species exists. There are a number of other snakes that are nearly as small as new species. Although there may be some smaller species, discovering a species like this is unlikely. Hedges said: 'Natural selection can prevent snakes from becoming too small, because if they have not reached a certain size they will not earn anything for the snake snake' . He added that the tiny snake in Barbados, like other species with its relatives, likes to eat mainly ants and termites.

Contrary to the larger species can lay up to 100 eggs a litter, tiny snakes, as well as the smallest animals, usually only lay one egg or give birth to a baby. In addition, the smallest animals have the same size of adult size. For example, the offspring of the smallest snake is about half the size of an adult, while the offspring of the largest-sized snake is only one-tenth the size of an adult. Barbados snakes are no exception. It also only lays a small egg and the egg occupies a significant part of the body of the mother snake.

'Suppose the tiny snake lays two eggs, each egg occupies only half of the space for maternal snake breeding. But then the hatched snake will only be half the size of its normal size. So it is probably too small to develop into a solid or normal existence in the environment. The fact that tiny snakes lay only one large egg, equivalent to the size of a mother snake. This suggests that natural selection is maintaining the size of the offspring above the critical level so that it can survive '.

Hedges recently discovered and named over 65 new species of amphibians and reptiles during his research on evolution and genetics. In the article he describes about the snake Leptotyphlops carlae he discovered in Barbados, he also described a new species discovered in St. Island. Nearby Lucia. This species is also small in size close to the Barbados snake. Finding new species, collecting and naming is the first essential step of other studies. Hedges said that discovering new species plays a key role in biodiversity protection. 'It is very difficult to protect a species if we do not know it exists'.

The people of Barbados attacked the discovery of the world's smallest snake