AUBREY MENEZES: The World's Smallest Snake

Jon,

Here is an article I came across on the worlds smallest snake found in Barbados:

The world's smallest snake

Discovered: Barbados
Documented: 2008

If you shuddered at the discovery of a fossilised 13-metre, 1-tonne boa constrictor earlier this year, perhaps Leptotyphlops carlae is more up your street. At only 100 millimetres long and no thicker than a strand of spaghetti, it is the world's smallest snake, able to curl up on a British 10 pence coin or an American quarter.

Blair Hedges of Pennsylvania State University, University Park, found the diminutive snake under a rock in Barbados last year. Also known as the Barbados threadsnake, it belongs to a group of snakes that burrow into the ground in pursuit of ants and termites, which they suck dry before spitting out the husk.

Threadsnakes tend to be small - the previous record holder was the Lesser Antillean threadsnake, at 110 millimetres. But Hedges believes L. carlae is as small as it gets. Thanks to their tiny body cavity, females only manage to lay a single, very elongated egg. Any smaller and a snake would be unable to reproduce at all,
he says.