Four new snake species discovered in Papua New Guinea's wild islands
Image source: Mongabay
Decades of too little sampling and widespread misidentification, particularly in island areas that are far from access to researchers, have posed challenges to the science of herpetology in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since its beginning.
But a recent discovery by University of Michigan biologist Fred Kraus is sorting out some of that taxonomic knot while at the same time revealing four undescribed species of tree snakes. According to Zootaxa Kraus's research, this represents an important step in the discovery of PNG's reptilian diversity, particularly for the genus Dendrelaphis, the bronzebacks or tree snakes, as they are locally known.
New snakes found in Papua New Guinea
The four new snake species are found specifically on individual islands in PNG's Louisiade and Woodlark island groups in Milne Bay Province, which are exemplary of the evolutionary effect of geographical isolation.
Dendrelaphis anthracina
– On Sudest Island (also known as Vanatinai or Tagula), this species is powerfully jet-black with a white chin. Perhaps most remarkable, Kraus saw it dominating a goshawk with a wingspan measuring more than a meter—a feat remarkable for a tree snake.
Dendrelaphis melanarkys
– Indigenous to Rossel Island, this species has striking orange eyes and elaborate, net-like scale patterns.
Dendrelaphis atra
– Found on Misima Island, the atra tree snake darkens as it ages and eventually turns a matte black, rendering it almost invisible in heavy vegetation.
Dendrelaphis roseni
– The most diminutive of the four, this species lives on Woodlark Island and is named after Clark Rosen, Kraus's deceased friend and respected snake ecologist and conservationist.
Papua New Guinea highlights island-driven snake diversity
These four species not only widen our knowledge of the Dendrelaphis genus but also point to the wider process of island speciation, whereby geographic distance leads to the evolution of species that are specialized to a particular locale. Kraus utilized a mix of physical characteristics—hemipenial shape—as well as coloration in order to identify and distinguish between these snakes, thereby rectifying several decades of taxonomic ambiguity throughout the region.
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According to the reports, more than 424 species of reptiles live in Papua New Guinea, with a minimum of 147 species of snakes. The finds of these four new snakes emphasise both the diversity of the region and yet how much is still unrecorded.
Papua New Guinea's rare snakes discovered
under threat
These exciting discoveries are not without concern. Despite only just being named, these species may already face significant threats. Mining interests, widespread deforestation, and other forms of habitat destruction have long targeted islands like Woodlark, with major forest conversion projects proposed multiple times in the past two decades. As Kraus's research lays bare new species, it also sends a tacit message: PNG's biodiversity is not only vast but substantially vulnerable.
Conservation initiatives need to intensify in order to prevent newly found species from going extinct before they are fully realized.
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