Search Here

Researchers have spotted a mysterious species of snake that was first discovered more than 80 years ago and was never seen again. The species named Clarion nightsnake was spotted lurking in volcanic rocks on an island off Mexico. 

"The rediscovery of the Clarion nightsnake is an incredible story of how scientists rely on historical data and museum collections to solve modern-day mysteries about biodiversity in the world we live in," lead author Daniel Mulcahy, a researcher at the National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. "Proper identification is the first step toward conserving this snake, and we plan to continue monitoring this species to learn more about the role it plays in the delicate Clarion Island ecosystem."

The snake sports a speckled, brownish-black camouflage blended in with the black lava rock on the island, making it extremely difficult to spot. 

The reptile was first unearthed by naturalist William Beebe, in 1936 on Clarion Island and was scientifically named Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha unaocularus. 

In their quest to the Revillagigedo Islands to find the missing species, researchers uncovered 11 of the elusive snakes, all on the volcanic island of Clarion. DNA testing confirmed that snakes were a distinct species from mainland night snakes. 

Their closest relatives inhabit a region on the border of Sonora and Sinaloa in Mexico, as well as an island off Mexico called Isla Santa Catalina in the Gulf of California. The new species may have first made it to the island by swimming across the sea from a river basin in Sonora, the researchers speculate, reported Live Science.

The discovery is described in the journal PLOS ONE.