A species of snake that had been lost for almost 80 years has been rediscovered on a remote Mexican island.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Clarion nightsnake was first spotted on Clarion Island by a US researcher, who returned with one sample in 1936.
But subsequent visits to the island failed to find another one.
The label on the single existing dead sample was assumed to be an error, and it was struck from taxonomic registries.
The Clarion nightsnake (Hypsiglena unaocularus) was found again on one of the Revillagigedo Islands, more than 650 kilometres off Mexico's Pacific coast, according to a study published in the PLOS ONE scientific journal.
The 46 centimetre snake found on its black lava rock habitat on the island, is darker than its mainland relatives and has a distinctive pattern of spots on its head and neck.
It was declared a new species by researcher Daniel Mulcahy from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, DC, and a team of Mexican scientists led by ecologist Juan Martínez-Gómez this month.
DNA analysis taken from newly found individuals shows it is a species most closely related to snakes from the Sonora-Sinaloa coast more than 1600 kilometres away.
AP, AFP
