World’s smallest snake rediscovered in Barbados

By Dean Murray

The world’s smallest snake has been rediscovered after being lost to science for nearly 20 years.

The Barbados threadsnake (Tetracheilostoma carlae), was rediscovered under a rock in central Barbados during an ecological survey in March by the Barbados Ministry of the Environment and National Beautification and Re:wild.

The snake had not had a sighting verified and documented by a scientist—and was on a global list of 4,800 plant, animal and fungi species lost to science compiled by Re:wild’s Search for Lost Species.

The Barbados threadsnake is at the limit of how small a snake can be, measuring only about 3 to 4 inches long (9 to 10 centimeters) when it is fully grown.

Each confirmed sighting of the species has had several decades between them, leading scientists to believe that the snake has possibly always been rare and difficult to find in the wild.

The Barbados Ministry of the Environment and Beautification had been searching for the threadsnake and several other endemic reptiles for more than a year as part of the Conserving Barbados’ Endemic Reptiles (CBER) project.

“Barbados threadsnakes are blind snakes, so they’re very cryptic,” said Connor Blades, a project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados, who helped rediscover the threadsnake. “They’re quite rare also, it seems. There have only been a handful of confirmed sightings since 1889, so there are not many people who have ever seen it, unfortunately.”

The threadsnake also closely resembles the Brahminy blind snake, or flowerpot snake, a small invasive snake species that was inadvertently introduced to Barbados in recent decades. Scientists often need a magnifying glass to help them clearly identify the two snakes.

“I began to look over the snake and it was clear to me that I really needed to take it to a microscope to get a proper look at it,” said Blades. “The morphological differences between the threadsnake and blind snake are really difficult to tell by eye, particularly because it was the first threadsnake we had seen, so we weren’t familiar with the species yet.”

During the survey in March, Justin Springer, Caribbean program officer for Re:wild, and Blades began looking under rocks for any signs of tiny threadsnakes. One particular rock trapped under a tree root caught their attention.

“I was making a joke and in my head I said, ‘I smell a threadsnake,’” said Springer. “I just had a feeling, but I couldn’t be sure because we turned over a lot of rocks before that and we saw nothing.”

Blades loosened the rock from under the tree root and pulled it up. Underneath the rock was an earthworm and a tiny snake. Springer quickly picked up the snake to take a closer look, which at first glance seemed like it could be the Barbados threadsnake.

“When you are so accustomed to looking for things and you don’t see them, you are shocked when you actually find it,” said Springer. “You can’t believe it. That’s how I felt. You don’t want to get your hopes up too high.”

Blades took the snake to the University of the West Indies and examined it under a microscope before returning the snake back to the forest in central Barbados.

It had all the characteristics of a threadsnake—pale orange dorsal lines running from its head to tail, eyes located on the side of its head, a rostral scale on its nose and no gland lines on its head.

The CBER project now has a better idea of where and when to search for the threadsnake in the future. It is planning to continue surveying the island to better understand the threadsnake’s range and design conservation actions to protect it and its habitat.

“The threadsnake’s rediscovery is also a call to all of us as Barbadians that forests in Barbados are very special and need protection,” said Springer. “Not just for the threadsnake, but for other species as well. For plants, animals and our heritage.”