by Among bushes in the foothill forests of Panama slithers a snake the color of burnt embers, with round eyes like glowing coals. The snake that will soon be called DiCaprio’s snail-eating snake (Sibon irmelindicapriae), is one of five newly discovered species living in the jungles of Central and South America. In a new study, researchers have described the new species and elucidated how gold and copper mining operations in the region may threaten other stunning snakes.
“These new snake species are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of new species discoveries in this region,” said the lead author Alejandro Arteaga (opens in new tab)President and research director of the Khamai Foundation, a non-governmental organization focused on environmental protection, said in an opinion (opens in new tab). “But if illegal mining continues at this rate, there may not be an opportunity for future discoveries.”
S. irmelindicaprioae derives its name from actor and conservationist Leonardo DiCaprio, who asked that the red-eyed snake be named after his mother, Irmelin Indenbirken. DiCaprio’s eponymous snake is about 15 inches long and spends its evenings perched on palm fronds 10 feet above the ground in search of slugs and slugs. The snake is docile to bugs and defends itself not by biting but by wrapping itself protectively around its head and emitting a foul odor.
The other four newly discovered species described in the study were published in the journal Jan. 25 ZooKeys (opens in new tab)are the canopy snail-eating snake (Sibon canopy), Marley’s slug-eating snake (Sibon marleyae), Vieira’s snail-eating snake (Sibon vieirai) and Welborn’s snail-eating snake (Dipsas welborni).
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To identify the new species, Arteaga and colleagues built an evolutionary tree of Dipsadinae — a large and diverse subfamily of tree, land, and water snakes found in the Americas — after analyzing 343 snake sequences DNS. Scientists found that five species differed enough from their closest relatives in both appearance and genetics to qualify as new species. DiCaprio’s snake, for example, doesn’t look much different right away Siphonops annulatus, a colleague Dipsadine. But in addition to the genetic differences, the two species have distinct color patterns along their backs and heads, among other telltale signs they’re not quite the same.
Unfortunately, most of these new snail-eating species face significant challenges; The authors believe DiCaprio’s snake already meets the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s criteria for “Near Threatened” due to gold and copper mines ravaging the rainforests the snakes call home. All five snake species are arboreal, meaning they cannot survive in deforested areas, and all rely on a steady diet of slugs and snails, which are declining in streams and rivers due to mining-related pollution, the statement said.
In Ecuador and Colombia, the challenge is great illegal open pit gold mines (opens in new tab)which recently emerged in response to a regional gold rush that has led to violence against park rangers and conservationists who stand in its way deforestation. “When I first explored the rainforests of the Nangaritza River in 2014, I remembered thinking the place was an undiscovered and untouched paradise,” Arteaga said. “In fact, the place is called Nuevo Paraíso [New Paradise] in Spanish, but it’s not paradise anymore. Hundreds of illegal gold miners with backhoes have now taken possession of the riverbanks, which have now been destroyed and reduced to rubble.”
In Panama, where DiCaprio’s snake lives, the problem is legal copper mining.
“Both legal and illegal open pit mines are uninhabitable for the snail-eating snakes,” Arteaga said, “but the legal mines may be the lesser evil. At the very least, they respect the boundary of nearby protected areas, and are probably unlikely to use force against park rangers, researchers, and conservationists.”
