The Barbados threadsnake–the smallest known snake in the world

The smallest known snake in the world is the Barbados Threadsnake (Leptotyphlops carlae), a species of blind threadsnake so small they were only discovered in 2008 (despite living on a heavily populated, highly studied island).  The adult snakes measure only 10 cm, (4 inches) long.  Herpetologists believe these tiny snakes are at threshold of viable size for snakes: if they were any smaller they would not be able to hunt or reproduce.

Female Barbados threadsnakes lay a single egg which is huge relative to the size of the mother. The newly hatched snakes are already half as large as adults.  Like caecilians or other blind snakes, Barbados threadsnakes are fossorial–they live and hunt underground (which is one of the reasons it took so long to find them).  The little threadsnakes live on the larvae of ants and termites.

The island of Barbados is mostly covered with cities, houses, farms, and roads

Not only are Barbados threadsnakes miniscule.  Their remaining forest territory is tiny. Barbados is heavily developed and no original old growth forests exist.  The threadsnakes live in secondary forests which regrew from the vestiges of long-vanished woods.  Their entire habitat is thought to be no more than a square kilometer or two.