New Snake Species Discovered Hiding In Plain Sight For Decades

Snakes are often depicted in a scary, devilish light. As a result, we often associate these reptiles with fear, whether they're poisonous or nonpoisonous snakes. However, snakes are an important part of the ecosystem, and new species continue to be identified as researchers explore remote and uninhabited areas. One of the newest discoveries among reptiles is a new snake species. The most interesting part, though, is that it was living in captivity for decades.

In a paper, "Two new species of Boaedon from Ethiopia and Somalia, with a review of the species of East Africa," published in Zootaxa in mid-January 2025, researchers described the new Boaedon broadleyi — an African House snake — as being "reddish, olive-brown or light brown" in color. Also, it has "two short white stripes" on each side of its sub-triangular head and "and a higher average of mid-dorsal scale counts." The researchers measured the snake at nearly 4 feet long (1,196 millimeters, to be exact) and reported that it lives in different localities in Ethiopia and neighboring Somalia in East Africa, preferring humid habitats, such as grasslands, savannas, and woodlands.

The adult live specimen they studied was found in the Oromia region of Ethiopia during the late 1980s by scientist Dr. Peter Angenstein. Then, Ralf Hörold kept it in captivity until he donated it to the Zoological Museum Hamburg in 2006, after which it caught the attention of study authors Jakob Hallermann and Oliver Hawlitschek.

In the same Zootaxa paper, authors Jakob Hallermann and Oliver Hawlitschek described a second new species of snake, which has been named Boaedon subniger. The juvenile live specimen they studied was discovered in 2017 in the Sanaag region of Somalia by Tomáš Mazuch, who donated it to the Zoological Museum Hamburg in 2024. At just 8.74 inches long (222 millimeters), the juvenile African House snake is blackish brown or dark brown in color across its dorsum with white ventral coloration but no stripes on its sub-triangular head. Opposite of the other newly identified species, it prefers arid and semi-arid habitats and only lives in Northern Somalia.

Although the Boaedon broadleyi and Boaedon subniger look different and live in different habitats, they're similar in the biotic factors about snakes of the Boadeon genus in how they impact the ecosystem as predator and prey. Like other Boaedon species, they mainly feed on rodents or any other small wildlife they can catch.