Posted by Ronald Moore on September 24, 2008

Q: I recently read an article about the discovery of a new species of miniature snake in Barbados (Leptotyphlops Carlae).

I am an expatriate worker living in Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah, Saudi Arabia. I have lived here for 11 years and had never seen a snake in Yanbu, until this morning. I found a miniature snake on the floor of my dining room this morning. I thought it was a thread but when I reached down to pick it up it slithered across the ceramic tile floor. I chased it down with a large spoon and when I picked it up it jumped out of the spoon. I finally caught it an disposed of it before my wife entered the room... I placed the snake in hot water to kill it.... Sorry for that... I examined the snake under a magnifying glass as I had never seen a snake so small. I looks identical to the snake discovered in Barbados, and may even be smaller. I have taken a photograph of the snake but it is so small the photo isn't too clear. However, you can see the outline of its mouth. The snake is curled up and fits entirely on a Saudi 25 halala coin (about the size of a quarter). Can you identify this snake?

State: Arkansas

Habitat: desert

A: 'm not at all familiar with snakes in Saudi Arabia but I think I can give you some information to help with your discovery. From your photo (very helpful) and description, it looks like you saw one of the blind snakes in the families Typhlopidae and Leptotyphlopidae. I'm not trying to get fancy with these big names but these will help you if you want to google some photos. These are two large, worldwide families (about 250 species) of blind snakes that are harmless, worm-like burrowers. From the information I've been able to access, it seems that these snakes are indistinguishable using external characteristics - sounds like it would take a herpetologist to figure out one species from another.

I can't begin to offer you the exact species that you found but it's undoubtedly a member of one of the two families I've shared. We've had a blind snake, the Brahminy Blind Snake (Ramphotyphlops braminus), introduced into the southern U.S. from Asia and it seems to have been transported here via potted plants. No way to know whether your snake was introduced that way but you may want to see if you can determine whether Saudi Arabia has any native blind snakes to begin with.

I hope this helps a bit. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( September 24, 2008)