Ecology
A thin and very long species of snake was recently discovered in Ecuador, a part of the country known all over the world for its variety of species. According to researchers, this is a new type of so-called blunt wine snake that lives in forests in northwestern Ecuador.
Dumb wine snakes, found throughout Central and South America, differ from all other snakes in the New World because they are characterized by a very thin body that is disproportionately flat neck, big eyes and a blunt head shape. A new species discovered in the Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena zone, famous for its diversity of living species, was named Imantodes chocoensis.
A new species of snake lives far from its closest relatives
The new species of reptile discovered by scientists is the seventh in the genus of blunt belt-shaped snakes. The data obtained through DNA tests allowed researchers to identify a close relationship between Imantodes chocoensis and another species that lives in the Amazon region on the other side of the Andes (zone Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena lies west of this South American mountain range).
“The only possible explanation for such a disconnected habitat for the new species and its closest relative is that the Andean plates were once broken and one of them was raised. Two populations of snakes have formed, each of which has developed into a separate species: one in the Chocó region and the other in the Amazon region,” said Omar Torres-Carvajal, a zoologist from Ecuador. Anyway, it's good that we now have the opportunity to enjoy this extremely unusual view.
