World's smallest snake discovered

"The world's smallest snake, averaging just 10cm (4 inches) and as thin as a spaghetti noodle, has been discovered on the Caribbean island of Barbados.

The snake - named Leptotyphlops carlae - is the smallest of the 3,100 known snake species… Researchers believe that the snake - a type of thread snake - is so rare that it has survived un-noticed until now…

In contrast to other species of snake - some of which can lay up to 100 eggs in a single clutch - the world's smallest snake only produces a single egg…

"If a tiny snake were to have more than one offspring, each egg would have to share the same space occupied by the one egg and so the two hatchlings would be half the normal size." The hatchlings might then be too small to find anything small enough to eat.

This has led the researchers to believe that the Barbadian snake is as small as a snake can evolve to be.” (Text and image credit to the BBC)