It belongs to the genus Phalotris, which has 15 semi-subterranean species distributed in central South America. This group of snakes is noted for its striking coloration with red, black, and yellow patterns.
The discovery corresponds to the Paraguayan NGO Para La Tierra with the collaboration of Guyra Paraguay and the Biological Research Institute of Paraguay.
Jean-Paul Brouard, one of the researchers involved, came across an individual of the new species by chance while digging a hole at Rancho Laguna Blanca in 2014. Together with his colleagues Paul Smith and Pier Cacciali they named it Phalotris shawnella, after two children, Shawn Ariel Smith Fernández and Ella Bethany Atkinson, who were born the same year as Fundación Para La Tierra (2008). They inspired the founders of the NGO to work for the conservation of Paraguayan wildlife, with the hope that their children could inherit a better world.
The new Phalotris snake is particularly attractive and can be distinguished from other related species in its genus by its red head in combination with a yellow collar, black lateral band, and orange ventral scales with irregular black spots. Known from only three specimens, it is endemic to the Cerrado forests of the department of San Pedro in eastern Paraguay. Its known distribution consists of two places with sandy soils in that department, Colonia Volendam and Laguna Blanca, separated by 90 km.
The extreme rarity of this species led the authors to consider it as “Endangered”, according to the conservation categories of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which means that it is in imminent danger of extinction due to the lack of conservation measures.
The entrance Scientific magazine presents snake discovered in Paraguay was first published in diary TODAY.
