The analyzes allowed scientists to observe for the first time the feeding habits of this little-known snake that is on the state list of threatened species.
Courtesy | The reasons for his death were recently published by a group of researchers
A specimen of rock crowned snake (‘Tantilla oolitica’), one of the rarest species in North America, whose last sighting dates back to 2018, was found dead following suffocating while trying to swallow a giant centipede in a US national park in the southeast Florida.
Although his body was found last February by a visitor to the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the reasons for his death were recently published by a group of researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History in the journal Ecology.
“We were able to perform a digital autopsy, which allowed us to examine the centipede and the snake, including their wounds and intestinal contents, without even picking up a scalpel,” explained Jaimi Gray, an evolutionary morphologist at the museum.
“It is extremely rare to find specimens that die while eating prey, and given how rare this species is, I would never have expected to find something like this. We were all totally dumbfounded,” said Coleman Sheehy, manager of the museum’s herpetology collection.
little known species
The analyzes allowed scientists to observe for the first time the feeding habits of this little-known snake that is on the state list of threatened species. Their sighting is unusual as they live under rocks, rubble or in limestone cavities and their habitat has not been preserved. Currently only regarding 26 specimens are known to exist.
“We cannot say for sure whether or not they are still present on the Florida panhandle. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but their habitat has basically been destroyed,” Sheehy said.
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