A new snake discovery in Saudi Arabia has increased hope that more are waiting to be found in the region, researchers have said.
The Rhynchocalamus hejazicus, a small snake species with a reddish coloration and black collar, has been discovered in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia by researchers from the Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Research Center in Portugal and Charles University in the Czech Republic. They published details on the finding in Zoosystematics and Evolution.
The genus Rhynchocalamus previously had a significant distribution gap between the Levant and the coastal regions of Yemen and Oman. However, the newly discovered species was found extensively in the area between those regions, leading the researchers to call it "the missing piece of the puzzle."
"The discovery of a new species of snake widespread in the central-western regions of Saudi Arabia is surprising and gives rise to the hope that more undiscovered species might be present in the Kingdom," the authors said, according to the academic publisher Pensoft.
This new snake finding underscores a gap in knowledge and indicates there may be more "rare and secretive" species waiting to be found, they wrote in the study.
The researchers found the species through sampling across the city of AlUla, Saudi Arabia. The work was supported by the Royal Commission for AlUla, which seeks to improve conservation efforts in the area.
The new species prefers to hide in sandy soils and varies in its preferences of vegetation, the study found. The snake does not appear to be a threatened species, the researchers said, as they found it in habitats disturbed by humans. The snake also appears to be mainly nocturnal, as the researchers mostly spotted them at night.
There is still much that scientists do not know about this species. Its evolution and behavior remain mysteries that require more research, which could then inform conservation efforts.
It is thought that snakes evolved over 150 million years ago, yet scientists are still discovering more about the species.
They likely evolved from burrowing lizards, adapting over time to a variety of environments through the loss of limbs, development of elongated bodies and specialized modes of locomotion, such as slithering. This evolutionary path allowed them to exploit a wide range of ecological niches.
There are about 3,900 species of snakes all across the globe—in habitats that include the Amazon rainforest and Sahara desert.
The recent increase of field studies in Saudi Arabia has led to significant collaborations and crucial findings, the new study reported.
The finding highlights the importance of enhancing sampling efforts and monitoring strategies to capture the full spectrum of species diversity in unexplored areas, the researchers said. Experts from multiple teams contributed to the study, demonstrating the necessity of collaborative efforts in uncovering and documenting the region's biodiversity.
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Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more
