(Reptile & Amphibian Database – Philippines FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
Scientists from the University of Kansas who discovered the new snake species honored Alcala for his “numerous contributions on the systematics, biogeography, and ecology of amphibians and reptiles of the country, and in general, for his influential promotion of conservation and sustainable management of the archipelago’s terrestrial and marine biodiversity.”
The new species, Calamaria alcalai, was found to have a “longer tail” and “more subcaudal” scales than any other of its kind found in the Philippines.
The description of the new species of reed snake was published in the Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology on Feb. 8, 2021.
New genus of tiny, iridescent snake from Philippines found in collection ufl.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ufl.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
photo by: University of Kansas
Jeff Weinell, a KU graduate research assistant at the KU Biodiversity Institute, is lead author of a paper describing the Waray Dwarf Burrowing Snake as both a new genus and a new species in the peer-reviewed journal Copeia.
It just took a fresh pair of eyes for three preserved snake specimens to be recognized as something special and entirely new.
In 2017, graduate research assistant Jeff Weinell realized that three snake specimens in the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum had been misidentified.
He had been studying a genus of snakes called Pseudorabdion and sequencing their DNA in order to understand their evolutionary relationships. When he got the results back, however, he realized that one specimen that had been identified as Pseudorabdion did not actually fit into the genus.
New Species of Snake Discovered in Museum After Being Ignored by Researchers albawaba.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from albawaba.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Specimens at the University of Kansas have been misidentified for years
Researchers only now realized its a distinct miniature species and genus
One of the smallest snakes of its kind, it has among the fewest vertebrae of any species
The Waray dwarf lives mostly underground, surfacing only after heavy rains
Not every new animal is discovered in the jungle or rainforest: A new species of snake was discovered in a museum after being ignored by researchers for years.
Levitonius mirus, also known as the Waray dwarf burrowing snake, is native to the Philippines.
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But specimens of the snake sent to the University of were misidentified until a research assistant conducted analysis of their scales and skeletal structure.