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miniscule: The Leptotyphlops carlae was found in Barbados |
The snake, found beneath a rock in a tiny fragment of threatened forest, is thought to be at the very limit of how small a snake can evolve to be.
Females produce only a single, massive egg and the young hatch at half of their adult body weight.
The snake named Leptotyphlops carlae is the smallest of the 3,100 known snake species and was uncovered by Dr Blair Hedges, a biologist from Penn State University, USA.
"I was thrilled when I turned over that rock and found it," said Hedges.
"After finding the first one, we turned hundreds of other stones to find another one."
In total, Hedges and his herpetologist wife found only two females.
Hedges thinks the snake eats terminates and is endemic to this one Caribbean island.
