New species of Arabian desert snake discovered near ancient city

A new species of snake has been discovered in Saudi Arabia, providing a missing piece in our knowledge of the distribution of snakes in the Arabian Peninsula.

The new snake is described in an article published in the journal Zoosystematics and evolution.

“Snakes are a diverse group of reptiles, but they are notoriously difficult to detect due to their secretive behavior and rarity,” the authors write. The gaps in our knowledge, they add, are particularly notable in “undersampled regions of the world, such as the Middle East.”

This is why we continue to discover new species of snakes even today.

Rhynchocalamus hejazicus is a small snake, adults measuring approximately 25 to 40 cm from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail. It lives in the Hejaz mountains in western Saudi Arabia.

The new snake belongs to a genus comprising 5 species of secretive snakes, widely distributed from Egypt to Iran. R. hejazicus has a distinctive coloration, with a predominantly reddish body and black color.

A completely black form of the species has also been found. This “melanistic morphotype” is similar to other animals that have entirely black individuals in their genetic heritage, such as jaguars.

R. hejazicus lives in sandy and stony soils, including habitats disturbed by humans. This suggests that it should not be listed as a threatened species under IUCN criteria.

Little is known about the recently discovered snake. It appears to be mainly nocturnal since all individuals encountered were active at night.

The species was discovered through intense sampling between 2017 and 2023 in a large area around the ancient Arabian oasis city of AlUla, which has a 7,000-year-old civilizational history.

“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 write.