From ScienceDaily:
A Rather Thin and Long New Snake Crawls out of One of Earth’s Biodiversity Hotspots
(Nov. 27, 2012) — Field and laboratory work by a group of zoologists led by Omar Torres-Carvajal from Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, has resulted in the discovery of a new species of blunt-headed vine snake from the Chocoan forests in northwestern Ecuador. This region is part of the 274,597 km2 Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena hotspot that lies west of the Andes.
The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
Blunt-headed vine snakes live in an area comprising Mexico and Argentina, and are different from all other New World snakes in having a very thin body, disproportionately slender neck, big eyes, and a blunt head. They live in trees and hunt frogs and lizards at night. The new species described by Torres-Carvajal and his collaborators was named Imantodes chocoensis and increases the number of species in this group of snakes to seven.
Snakes collected as far back as 1994 and deposited in several Ecuadorian and American natural history museums were also examined. The authors were soon surprised with an interesting discovery. Some individuals from the Ecuadorian Chocó lacked a big scale on their face that is present in all other blunt-headed vine snakes from the New World. Other features, as well as DNA evidence, indicate that these Chocoan snakes actually belong to a new species. DNA data also suggest that its closest relative is a species that inhabits the Amazon on the other side of the Andes.
‘One possible explanation for the disjunct distribution between the new species and its closest relative is that the uplift of the Andes fragmented an ancestral population into two, each of which evolved into a different species, one in the Chocó region and the other in the Amazon’ said Dr Torres-Carvajal.
Related articles
- Sea snakes new discovery (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- New Species Looks Like Beloved ‘Star Wars’ Character (huffingtonpost.com)
- A Remarkable Convergence of Species: The Deadliest Sea Snake [Greg Laden’s Blog] (scienceblogs.com)
- Ecuador drops poison on Galápagos Islands in attempt to eradicate rats (guardian.co.uk)
- New Sea Snake Species Found in ….. Museum (sci-news.com)
- No Snakes in Hawaii? Tell that to Kailua motorists who ran over a 5 foot Boa Constrictor (hawaiireporter.com)
- More than 25 snakes have been caught in Malaga so far this year (theolivepress.es)
Pingback: New snake species discovery in Ecuador « Philip's Blog
Believe it or not, but i love snakes! am i weird??? lol 🙂
LikeLike
No, you are not weird, because I love snakes as well 🙂
There are prejudices against snakes in many cultures, but not in all cultures.
Eg, not with some people in Kenya:
See also
LikeLike
Pingback: Record visitors numbers to this blog in November. | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: A species of tiny snakes? Cool and creepy at the same time. « www.NeiaNeia.com
That is the most adorable snake EVER!
O.O those eyes!
LikeLike
Yes, indeed. I hope its habitat will be protected, as this species is not numerous.
LikeLike
Pingback: Fossil snake had legs | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: New wildlife species discoveries | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: New lizard species discovery in Australia | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Condor research in Ecuador | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Mammal films at Rotterdam festival | Dear Kitty. Some blog