A striking new snake species from the Arabian Peninsula

Researchers have discovered a distinctive and secretive new species of snake in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia.

Rhynchocalamus hejazicus is a small snake sporting a black collar and reddish coloration, distinguishing it from its closest relatives. A uniformly black “melanistic morphotype” of the species has also been discovered.

The new species is widely distributed and fills much of the existing distribution gap between the Levant and the coastal regions of Yemen and Oman for the genus Rhynchocalamus.

An international team led by scientists from the Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos (CIBIO), Portugal, and Charles University, Czech Republic, published their discovery in Zoosystematics and evolution.

Rhynchocalamus hejazicus inhabits sandy and stony soils with variable vegetation cover and can be found in human-disturbed habitats, suggesting that the species should not be classified as threatened under IUCN criteria.

Little is known about the natural history and behavior of the species, and additional monitoring and conservation efforts are needed to better understand its ecological dynamics and natural history. However, it seems that Rhynchocalamus hejazicus has mainly nocturnal activity since all individuals were found active at night.

“The discovery of a new species of snake widespread in west-central regions of Saudi Arabia is surprising and raises hopes that more unknown species may be present in the Kingdom,” the authors say.

Most sightings of the new species are the result of intense sampling efforts in a large area around the ancient Arabian oasis city of AlUla, encouraged by the Royal Commission for AlUla, Saudi Arabia, which advances the activities and scientific explorations to promote conservation. In the region.

The intensification of field studies in Saudi Arabia in recent years leads to fruitful collaborations and results as important as this study, to which many experts from several teams contributed significantly.

The discovery of such a distinctive snake highlights existing gaps in the description of rare and secretive species, as well as the need for improved sampling efforts and monitoring strategies to fully capture species diversity in areas unexplored.