Snake has an unusual vestigial pelvis; Its name honours Ecuadorian Indigenous activist
The reptile’s colouring is primarily light brown with darker brown or black blotches — similar to a boa constrictor. Photo: European Journal of Taxonomy
A new species of dwarf boa has been discovered in the upper Amazon basin, reported a paper published in the journal European Journal of Taxonomy.
The snake from the Tropidophiidae family was found in the cloud forest in northeastern Ecuador and was up to 20 centimetres long. Tropidophis cacuangoae can be identified from other reptiles in the same genus based on its external features and bone structure.
The scientists found two verified specimens of the species. Its colouring is primarily light brown with darker brown or black blotches — similar to a boa constrictor.
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The species inhabits eastern tropical piedmont and lower evergreen montane forests in the Amazon tropical rainforest biome and the researchers suspect it to be an Ecuadorian endemic.
Both specimens were found within 50 kilometres of each other — Colonso Chalupas national reserve and in the private Sumak Kawsay park.
The species is unusual for having a “vestigial pelvis”, which is characteristic of primitive snakes. This could be evidence that snakes descended from lizards that lost their limbs over millions of years.
The snake’s name honours Dolores Cacuango, an early 20th-century pioneer in the fight for indigenous and farmers’ rights in Ecuador. The researchers also talk about the relationships of the new species with South American tropidophiids and provide the key to the identification of mainland South American dwarf boas.
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“Our morphological evidence provides support against the recognition of the posterior extension of the maxilla suborbital ramus, the posterior extent of maxillary teeth rows and dentary teeth count as synapomorphic characters of Tropidophiidae,” the researchers wrote in the paper.
The discovery of T cacuangoae demonstrates that small and cryptic vertebrates can undergo large periods of time without being detected and formally describe by science, the report added.
The discovery of this new species highlights a critical need to accelerate research in remote areas where information gaps remain but are suspected of harbouring high biodiversity and are severely threatened by human impacts, the study further said.
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