‘Ghost Snake’ Discovered in Madagascar
09/01/2016
Madagascarophis lolo, pronounced “luu luu,” which means ghost in Malagasy. Photo Credit: Sara Ruane, LSU
BATON ROUGE – Researchers discovered a new snake species in Madagascar and named it
“ghost snake” for its pale grey coloration and elusiveness. They found the ghost snake
on a recently opened path within the well-traveled Ankarana National Park in northern
Madagascar in February 2014. They studied the snake’s physical characteristics and
genetics, which verified that it is a new species. The researchers from the LSU Museum
of Natural Science, the American Museum of Natural History and the Université de Mahajunga
in Madagascar named it Madagascarophis lolo, pronounced “luu luu,” which means ghost
in Malagasy. Their work was published in the scientific journal, Copeia, today.
The ghost snake is part of a common group of snakes called Madagascarophis, or cat-eyed
snakes, named for their vertical pupils, which is often found among snakes that are
active in the evening or night. Many of the cat-eyed snakes are found in developed
areas or degraded forests. However, the researchers found the ghost snake on the national
park’s iconic pale grey limestone Tsingy rocks.
“None of the other snakes in Madagascarophis are as pale and none of them have this
distinct pattern,” said Sara Ruane, post-doctoral researcher at the LSU Museum of
Natural Science and lead author of the paper.
The researchers conducted genetic analyses and were surprised to find that the ghost
snake’s next closest relative is a snake called Madagascarophis fuchsi, which was
discovered at a site approximately 100 kilometers north of Ankarana several years
ago. Both were found in rocky, isolated areas.
“I think what’s exciting and important about this work is even though the cat-eyed
snakes could be considered one of the most common groups of snakes in Madagascar,
there are still new species we don’t know about because a lot of regions are hard
to get to and poorly explored. If this commonly known, wide group of snakes harbors
this hidden diversity, what else is out there that we don’t know about?” Ruane said.
Malagasy master’s student Bernard Randriamahatantsoa spotted the snake on the path.
Randriamahatantsoa, Ruane and their collaborators discovered the ghost snake after
hiking for more than 17 miles in near-constant rain from their field site to the Ankarana
park entrance, whilst in search for a different species.
LSU Post-doctoral Researcher Sara Ruane in the field in Madagascar. Photo Credit: Sara Ruane, LSU
“It was really tough. It was a lot of work, but the payoff was big,” Ruane said. “Snakes
are hard to find under the best of circumstances. They are pretty elusive.”
That’s why the researchers conduct their fieldwork during the rainy season in Madagascar
when snakes and their prey, such as frogs, lizards and even other snakes, are most
active.
After discovering this new species, the researchers returned to the U.S. to conduct
their morphological and genetic analyses. Part of the study of the snake’s physical
characteristics includes counting all of the scales on its belly, its back, counting
how many scales touch the eye and the number of scales on the upper and lower lips.
Ruane extracted DNA from tissue samples from the ghost snake and the previously found
Madagascarophis fuchsi. She compared three genetic markers shared across the species
of Madagascarophis to determine how similar the new species was to those previously
known. In addition, Ruane and her colleagues mapped the genetic family tree, or phylogeny,
for the entire group of Madagascarophis, which has five species.
“All of the analyses we did supported that this is a distinct species despite the
fact that we only have this one individual,” she said.
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation. Ruane will participate
in a live Twitter Q & A on Thursday, Sept. 8 from noon to 1 p.m. Central Time about
this new species from the LSU Museum of Natural Science’s Twitter handle @LSU_MNS.
Additional Links:
The Cat-eyed Snakes of Madagascar: Phylogeny and Description of a New Species of Madagascarophis (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae) from the Tsingy of Ankarana, Copeia:
http://www.asihcopeiaonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1643/CH-15-346
Lolo the Ghost Snake: LSU Researcher Sara Ruane Helps Discover a New Species
http://lsuscienceblog.squarespace.com/blog/2016/8/31/lolo-the-ghost-snake-lsu-researcher-sara-ruane-helps-discover-a-new-species
VIDEO: American Museum of Natural History’s Science Bulletins: Field Notes from Madagascar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04yVyEhLBeY&feature=youtu.be
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Contact Alison Satake
LSU Media Relations
225-578-3870
asatake@lsu.edu