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BARBADOS ADVOCATE (Bridgetown) 10 August 08 Scientist did not discover smallest snake
I read the (AP) article, "Scientist: World’s smallest snake in Barbados" in The Barbados Advocate for August 4, 2008. It says that S. Blair Hedges discovered this snake in Barbados and has named it after his wife.
I would like to know how he can make such a claim without checking his facts. This snake was not discovered by him but was known to Barbados and Barbadians for over 100 years. Did he not ask if the snake was known to us? Did he not check with the authorities here? Did he not check in a scientific journal or encyclopaedia?
On February 1, 2001 the Barbados Postal Service issued a Souvenir Sheet depicting this same snake. The brochure that goes along with this sheet says as follows: “Two species of snake have been known to Barbados for more than a hundred years. The Liophis perfuscus and the Leptotyphlops bilineata. “The Leptotyphlops bilineata or the worm snake is no more than 10 cm long only a little thicker than the lead of a pencil and almost black in colour. It burrows in leaf litter and loose soil and on account of its secretive habits survive largely unnoticed. It has smooth shiny scales and small mouth and probably lives on termites and soil living invertebrates. The snake portrayed in the Souvenir Sheet is not to scale.
What happens now? S. Blair Hedges cannot be allowed to take credit for ‘discovering’ something that we have known about for over 100 years. I hope that the authorities here will take steps to correct this error as the name of this snake is Leptotyphlops bilineata and not Leptotyphlops carlae.
Keith H. Bayley
http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=36379

ASSOCIATED PRESS 09 August 08 Barbadians slam discovery, naming of tiny snake (Danica Coto)
San Juan, Puerto Rico (AP): A small snake has sparked a big debate in Barbados. Residents of the wealthy Caribbean nation have been heating up blogs and clogging radio airwaves to vent their anger at a U.S. scientist, who earlier this week announced his "discovery" of the world's smallest snake and named it "Leptotyphlops carlae," after his wife Carla.
"If he needs to blow his own trumpet ... well, fine," said 43-year-old Barbadian Charles Atkins. "But my mother, who was a simple housewife, she showed me the snake when I was a child."
One writer to the Barbados Free Press blog took an even tougher tone, questioning how someone could "discover" a snake long known to locals, who called it the thread snake.
"How dare this man come in here and name a snake after his wife?" said the writer who identified themselves as Margaret Knight.
The man she refers to is Penn State University evolutionary biologist S. Blair Hedges, whose research teams also have discovered the world's tiniest lizard in the Dominican Republic and the smallest frog in Cuba.
Hedges recently became the first to describe the snake — which is so small it can curl up on a U.S. quarter — when he published his observations and genetic test results in the journal "Zootaxa." Full-grown adults typically are less than 4 inches long.
Hedges told The Associated Press on Friday that he understands Barbadians' angry reactions, but under established scientific practice, the first person to do a full description of a species is said to have discovered it and gives it a scientific name.
He said most newly "discovered" species are already well known to locals, and the term refers to the work done in a laboratory to establish a genetic profile. In the study, he reported that two specimens he analyzed were found in 1889 and 1963.
"There are no false claims here, believe me," Hedges said.
Damon Corrie, president of the Caribbean Herpetological Society, acknowledged that Hedges is the first to scientifically examine and describe the snake, but the so-called discovery makes locals seem ignorant.
"It gives the impression that people here ... depend on people from abroad to come and show us things in our own backyard," Corrie said.
Karl Watson, a historian and ornithologist at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, said it's common for people to get excited over very tiny or very large animals.
"Probably people have overreacted. ... It's nationalism going a bit awry," Watson said.
Hedges agreed: "I think they're carrying it a bit too far."
"Snakes are really apolitical," he said.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hl7qw47SpUFsklljmxARCr3CowZAD92ED2BO0

AMERCIAN CHRONCLE (Beverly Hills, California) 10 August 08 The Naming of Snakes Is a Difficult Matter (Rebekah Price)
The greatest love stories go down in history: Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Robert and Elizabeth Browning, Edward VIII and Wallis Warfield Simpson, Bonnie and Clyde, Blair and Carla Hedges…
Who?
Blair and Carla. Haven´t heard of them? Well, the people of Barbados have, and they are none too pleased with the blissful couple, especially the man who professed his devotion for his wife through his life´s work as a scientist. Seems he and his research team have been studying a diminutive Barbadian reptile known locally as a "thread" snake.
This Lilliputian serpent, less than four inches when it reaches adulthood, can curl up on a quarter and is touted as the world´s smallest snake. The discovery is heralded as another feather in the cap of S. Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist from Penn State who, along with his research team, has discovered the world´s smallest lizard in Dominican Republic and the world´s tiniest frog in Cuba.
In the world of science, the one who describes the species gets to name the species. A version of "Finders, Keepers" one might surmise. Keeping this in mind, Hedges designated the sobriquet, "Leptotyphlops carlae", upon the wee creature in honor of his wife, herpetologist Carla Ann Haas. A beautiful remembrance for the woman he loves.
But Barbadians aren´t happy. That one small gesture of love produced gargantuan responses from the people of Barbados. The web has come alive with rapid-fire responses of indignation. Many are simply put out that the mere existence of this little snake that they all knew and loved would have to be examined and described by a [gasp] foreigner to formally exist. It is their snake, by God, and they should have described it.
Some Barbadians feel, according to one blogger, that "everyone now thinks we´re all stupid or backwards." That is not true, of course, but one can appreciate that feeling we´ve all had at one time or another in life. Someone usurps something we knew or held dear, and we look like the dunces for not displaying the value. We´ve all been there, holding an empty bag and muttering something unintelligible like, "Really, I knew it first…"
Others are incensed that Hedges chose to name the lovely little critter after his wife. Hopefully, she smiled with joy. Perhaps the same way a woman smiles when she receives the gift of a new vacuum for Mother´s Day, or a new skillet for her birthday. Not that the Mrs. is not worthy of such laurels, but the reputation of the Barbadian people is at stake. So now the naming of the snake is a political matter.
Perhaps a more politically correct name would be "Leptotyphlops barbadae". Maybe a designation reflecting more of the character of Barbados such as "Leptotyphlops touristae": a more market-worthy moniker to help tourism in keeping with Mel Brooks´ ideal of the "Secret of the Schwartz".
Did anyone ask the snake? Perhaps it already has a name, like Ferdinand or Slim. Can you imagine the conversation over a newly turned termite bed? "Hey, Slim... I told you not to go near those guys with the magnifying glass. We were all doing just fine until this fiasco. Now Slinky can´t even go out without dashing from rock to fungi. Thanks a lot, Pal!"
One thing in all this ophidian hoopla slipped to the wayside. A new species has been discovered and described. Everyone needs to stop and take a Lilliputian moment to realize the enormity of the find. Not just that there is a tiny snake unknowingly slithering into the lives of people who have never even seen one in the wild; but that there is a new species.
There is so much on this planet we have yet to know, yet to discover. We are bound, not just as stewards, but as living parts of this amazing biosphere on which we live. The lesson is here for us all to learn: get past the naming of the snake and get on with researching and protecting the extraordinary and finite resources of this planet.
Oh, and Carla, next time Blair wants to name something after you, smile sweetly and tell him earrings will not cause an international incident.
The Naming of Snakes Is a Difficult Matter

CAMANIAN COMPASS (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) 13 August 08 Small snake also here (Jonathan Rivers)
Seeing the article about the tiny snake in the Tuesday Compass has finally given me a chance to give my input on this story as I have seen it online but there was no comments section.
I and my mother both have found these snakes in our homes here on Grand Cayman in West Bay.
We live approximately a mile a part and about a month ago found these same types of snakes in our houses only days apart.
It is the same snake and now we wish after seeing these articles that we had let someone know.
So I don’t know who this guy is but if the people of Barbados knew about it, it is also apparently found in Hawaii and I know that is the same snake we found here.
How can this scientist claim he discovered it?
Obviously people have known about them long before he came around.
My only hope is to find another one so that I may contact the proper people to get it identified.
Small snake also here

CAYMANIAN COMPASS (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) 21 August 08 Tiny snake in Cayman different (Cliodhna Doherty)
While the Cayman Islands is home to an introduced species of tiny snake, this is a different type to the one recently billed the world’s smallest snake by the US scientist who discovered it in Barbados.
Penn State University biologist S. Blair Hedges discovered the world’s smallest snake recently and named it Leptotyphlops carlae after his wife Carly. He noted that full–grown adults are typically less than four inches or 10 centimetres long (see Caymanian Compass, 12 August).
Just this week, Mr. Ken Watler found a similar tiny snake in his home in West Bay and brought it to the Cayman Islands Department of Environment to find out if it was the same one discovered in Barbados. “I’ve seen these here all my life,” he said, referring to it as a Thread Snake.
Having looked at Mr. Watler’s snake, Senior Research Officer with the CI Department of Environment Mat DaCosta–Cottam, said it was a Brahminy blind snake (Ramphotyphlops braminus), a snake that had been introduced to Cayman probably from the US and that is commonly seen here, particularly in the saucers of flowerpots.
Mr. DaCosta–Cottam had only ever seen the snake found in Barbados in a photograph that appeared in the Caymanian Compass, and although it looked similar, he said he would have to defer to Mr. Blair Hedges’ expertise – that he had discovered a different snake. Because, as a reptile expert, Mr. Hedges would surely already be familiar with the Brahminy blind snake, he said.
The Caymanian Compass got in touch by phone with Mr. Hedges at Penn State University and he confirmed that the DoE was correct in its assertion.
He said the Brahminy blind snake is very well known to scientists. He himself has long been familiar with the Brahminy blind snake, he said, and has even seen it here in the Cayman Islands when he visited.
It is a different family of snake to the one found in Barbados, he said.
He noted that adult Brahminy blind snakes are larger than the snake discovered in the Bahamas, although hatchlings tend to be tiny.
However, many people have been contacting him from all over, asking if the Brahminy blind snake is the same one as the new discovery.
In fact, the two tiny snakes are quite different, he asserts. “The scales and many other things are different, but they both happen to be a small snake,” he said.
In fact, there are hundreds of species of small snake, he said.
While the Brahminy blind snake is not endemic to the Cayman Islands, there are blind snakes that are endemic in Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac, he said. These are larger (about the size of a pen) and more pink or brownish than the black colour of the Brahminy blind snake.
Mr. DaCosta–Cottam noted that the Brahminy blind snake is commonly seen in the Cayman Islands, often mistaken to be a worm or a grub. “They are completely harmless,” he said.
An interesting feature they have, he noted, is that they have a hook shaped point on the tip of their tail which anchors their tail and allows them to push themselves forward through the soil.
While the Brahminy blind snake is found mostly in Africa and Asia, it has been introduced into many other parts of the world and has often been given the name flowerpot snake because they have been introduced to other places through the plant trade.
The tiny eyes are covered with translucent scales, rendering these snakes almost entirely blind.
CYM Press: Tiny snake in Cayman different

THE NATION (Bridgetown, Barbadoes) 29 August 08 Letter: Clearing air on small snake (Blair Hedges, State College, Pennsylvania.)
My research on the Barbados Threadsnake was discussed in an article by Bryan Walker on August 8.
I understand the reaction of Barbadians to the news reports, when the snake was known already on the island. But this is true of almost any new species of reptile – they are known by local residents.
The news reports were not clear, and caused much of this confusion. The thing that was discovered was not the presence of the snake on Barbados, but that it is an endemic species known nowhere else – this was new. The research article can be obtained freely at: www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/zt01841p030.pdf
Before, that snake was considered the same species as the one on Martinique and St Lucia, and therefore not so special. The discovery was made by sequencing its DNA and by studying it carefully in a laboratory.
News reports failed to mention that I named the snake the "Barbados Threadsnake" in my scientific article. The scientific name – which people rarely use – was dedicated to my wife who helped with the research. This is a normal practice in the field of science called taxonomy, to dedicate a scientific name after someone.
What about the size? Wasn't it already the smallest? Because the species was confused, scientifically, the size was also confused. As it turns out, perhaps by chance, the new species defined on Barbados is even smaller than the one it was confused with previously, on Martinique.
Now, Barbados has a unique species, the Barbados Threadsnake, and one that is quite special because it is the smallest, unless someone finds a large specimen of it, or a smaller species elsewhere. It should be studied and protected.
In THE NATION article, Damon Corrie is quoted as saying that he showed me where to find the Threadsnake. That is not exactly true. He accompanied us on one day but there were no snakes at his places. The snakes came from a place that I found in the old literature, although he was present when one was collected and we enjoyed his company.
Finally, I must point out that there is a second very small snake on Barbados that is easy to confuse with the real Barbados Threadsnake. It is called the Flowerpot Blindsnake and is thin and black; it was introduced from Indonesia and is common in gardens and around houses (Bridgetown, and so on).
Most sightings of the "threadsnake" are probably of this different species.
Letter: Clearing air on small snake