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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

Evolutionary biologist S. Blair Hedges (Professor of Biology, Pennsylvania State University) seems to have a knack for discovering really, really small animals.  In 1996 he and his team turned up a Cuban frog (Eleutherodactylus iberia) only 10mm/.4 in from snout to vent.  In 2001, on Hispaniola, he and his team documented the existence of a lizard species (Sphaerodactylus ariasae) that averaged only 16mm/.6 in. from snout to vent. 

And now, a tiny snake, Leptotyphlops carlae (named for Hedges’ wife, Carla), from Barbados.  As an adult, this threadsnake averages about 100mm/4 in. in length.  It eats the larvae of ants and termites. 

All these little critters produce only one offspring at a time, unlike some of their larger cousins.  Hedges thinks there’s a finite lower limit to the size of snake offspring—basically, a newborn snake has to have a big enough mouth to be able to eat something, even if that something is pretty small itself.  So this threadsnake’s offspring is about half its adult size at hatching, while the hatchling of a king cobra gets along just fine at about a tenth of its eventual adult size. 

Gorillas big, snakes small, world still full of mystery . . . .

(Photo of Leptotyphlops carlae on a US quarter, found on Wikipedia Commons and used under the terms stated thereSource: Blair Hedges, Pennsylvania State University)
 

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Melissa Ann Singer

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Piles of books and stuff everywhere. Tor Books editor.
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