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Barbados Thread Snake

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August 01, 2025

Prelims – Current events of National and International Importance | Bio-diversity

Why in news?

Recently, World’s smallest snake, Barbodas thread snake rediscovered under rock in central Barbados during ecological survey.

  • Barbados thread snakes are rare, blind snakes.

Barbados is a small island nation is situated in the Caribbean region of the America.

  • Scientific name - Tetracheilostoma carlae.
  • Family – Leptotyphlopidae.
  • Nomenclature – It is named after Carla Ann Hass, the wife of its discoverer, S. Blair Hedges (Herpetologist).
  • Size - About 3 to 4 inches long (9 to 10 centimeters) when it is fully grown.
  • Morphology - Pale orange dorsal lines running from its head to tail, a rostral scale on its nose and no gland lines on its head.

barbados thread snake

  • Habitat - They inhabit beneath leaf litter, loose soil and limestone rubble in tropical dry forests.
  • Distribution - Found on the Caribbean Island of Barbados.
  • Adaptation - Its eyesight is reduced to light-sensing dots, an adaptation that saves energy in perpetual darkness.
  • Resemblance - The thread snake closely resembles the Brahminy blind snake, or flowerpot snake.
  • Reproduction - The Barbados thread snake reproduces sexually and females lay a clutch of only one egg.

The Brahminy blind snake is capable of parthenogenesis, which means that females are able to produce fertile eggs without mating.

  • Diet - Termite and ant larvae.
  • Conservation status - IUCN Red list Critically Endangered.

References

  1. The Hindu | Barbodas thread snake
  2. Re:wild | Pale orange dorsal lines
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