North America’s Rarest Snake Found Dead

The Tantilla oolitica (rim rock crowned snake), the rarest snake in North America, was recently rediscovered in a Florida Keys park after a four-year hiatus. Even though a snake encounter would normally be cause for celebration among conservationists, it was more of a source of astounding wonder than anything else. The snake was found to be dead, fighting a large centipede that it had partially swallowed in a lifeless battle.

Experts haven't previously observed the snake's feeding patterns due to the tragic confrontation. T. oolitica is so uncommon that no one knew what it consumed until now, despite the fact that it is well known that closely related species enjoy centipedes. Researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History CT scanned the entangled pair and just published their results in the journal Ecology.

Coleman Sheehy, co-author and manager of the herpetology collection at the Florida Museum, remarked, "I was surprised when I first viewed the images. "Samples that perished while consuming prey are incredibly rare, and given how uncommon this species is, I never would have expected discovering something like this. We were all completely shocked.

The deadly confrontation is the first time the snake's feeding habits have been studied by experts. Credit: Jerald Pinson's shot from the Florida Museum

In Key Largo's John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, a hiker first noticed the snake, which was then reported to park staff. The item was transferred immediately to specialists at the Florida Museum of Natural History in order to ascertain the precise cause of death.

Asphyxiation would be the most logical explanation given that the centipede warely one-third the size of the snake. However, snakes are known for eating prey that is much larger than they are. In contrast to humans and the majority of other vertebrates, snakes' jaws are held in place by flexible ligaments and muscles that allow them to wrap their heads around their prey.

To be certain, researchers would need to look inside. It used to need a dissection, which results in permanent damage and might obstruct future studies. However, more lately, scientists have resorted to CT-scanning technology, which provides a glimpse of an organism's anatomy that is unmatched and doesn't hurt the specimen.

The snake was stained with an iodine solution to increase the contrast of its internal parts, and Jaimi Gray, a postdoctoral associate at the museum, created a finely scaled 3D model using CT scans.

Without ever taking up a knife, "we were able to perform a digital autopsy, which allowed us to study the centipede and snake, including its wounds and intestinal contents," she said. The item was de-stain after scanning, and it is currently undamaged on collection shelves at the Florida Museum for future researchers to examine.

On the side of the snake, the model showed a minor wound that was probably caused by the centipede's strong venomous pinchers. The concept that snakes who frequently eat centipedes have some degree of tolerance to their mixture of corrosive venom has not yet been proven, said Sheehy. Even though the toxin and internal bleeding from the bite appeared to have contributed to some internal bleeding, the snake continued to kill and consume some of its prey.

The size of the centipede appears to have dealt the fatal blow instead. The snake's breath supply was cut off when its trachea was constricted, according to a close examination of the CT scans, roughly where the centipede's circumference was the biggest.                                                                                                 

The findings provide a close-up look at a species that many believe is in danger of going extinct. Tantilla oolitica previously flourished in pine rocklands that extended from Central Florida south to the Keys, but its population size has since drastically decreased. Since 1975, Florida has categorized the species as threatened, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working to have the species federally listed.

Along the spine of a long-gone coral reef, pine rockland habitats developed over millions of years and now support a wide variety of unique, Earth-exclusive flora and animals. However, the same characteristics that encouraged the development of hyperdiverse woods also made this region of Florida a perfect location for villages and cities. Today, the natural ecosystems have been nearly completely replaced by an unbroken sprawl of construction that stretches from Miami to West Palm Beach. Only 2% of the original pine rocklands exist outside of the Everglades. The new cityscapes have resulted in the nearly complete extinction of creatures that are native to pine rocklands, including T. oolitica.

"We are unable to confirm whether they are still present in Florida's peninsula. Although their habitat has essentially been obliterated, the absence of evidence is not proof of its disappearance, according to Sheehy.

For the time being, scientists are encouraged by what appears to be a somewhat stable population of T. oolitica in Key Largo and intend to use the new specimen as much as they can. There is no shortage of new information that may be learned from the CT scans, which are accessible online or at no cost.

Shefehy claims that anyone with an interest in this specimen is welcome to access the CT-scan data to examine more elements of the snake's anatomy. Since this is the first CT scan of the species, they will be the first to make such findings. This study is just the start of what can be discovered about this mysterious species using the CT-scan data, he added.

By FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY