Newly Discovered Wolf Snake Species Is Slender, Shiny Black, And It’s Named After Steve Irwin

On the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, scientists have discovered a new species of wolf snake. This latest member of the gang is a shiny, dark black, and has been named in honor of Australian TV personality, zookeeper, and conservationist Steve Irwin.

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The new species was found on Great Nicobar Island, the largest island in the archipelago and close to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The reptiles of the Nicobar Islands are somewhat understudied, and the snake species are known from just a small number of recorded specimens.

This snake was first reported in 2010, based on a single specimen thought to be a member of the Lycodon subcinctus species or one of its subspecies. To find out more about this one specimen, the team behind the new study re-examined it, as well as examining another specimen from the same population and a living specimen from Great Nicobar Island. 

This work led the researchers to realize they were looking at a new species, which they have now named Lycodon irwini after Irwin. “His passion and dedication to wildlife education and conservation have inspired naturalists and conservationists worldwide, including the authors of the paper,” write the team in their study.

The individuals the team found had a maximum body length of 1.2 meters (3.9 feet), and are described as “slender” with tails that taper to a pointy end. The color is described as blueish-black on top with a black to brownish-black underside. 

Only four records of this species exist, including the three that were detailed in this study. The holotype specimen (which will become the species standard to distinguish it from other species in the future) was found on a road in a moist evergreen forest, and the team thinks that the Great Nicobar Island is the only place where this snake species lives. Given its limited distribution, they recommend that it be classed as Endangered by the IUCN, with one potential threat to the species' survival being the destruction of its habitat by development activities. 

The team also believes that more species are yet to be discovered on the Nicobar Islands and that more work needs to be done to explore the fauna and flora there.

The study is published in Evolutionary Systematics.