Waray dwarf burrowing snake (Levitonius mirus) lives a fossorial lifestyle and likely has a diet that is specialized on earthworms or other limbless invertebrates. It spends most of its time burrowing underground, usually surfacing only after heavy rains in much the same way earthworms tend to wash up on suburban sidewalks after a downpour.

It has a maximum total length of 17.2 cm (6.8 inches), making it the smallest known species in the snake superfamily Elapoidea.

Image credit: Weinell et al., doi: 10.1643/CH2020110.

“The Waray dwarf burrowing snake has among the fewest number of vertebrae of any snake species in the world, which is likely the result of miniaturization and an adaptation for spending most of its life underground,” said Jeff Weinell, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Biodiversity Institute at the University of Kansas.

In the study, Weinell and colleagues obtained and analyzed genetic and morphological data from the mysterious snake.

They also used CT scanning to get a more precise look at its internal anatomy.

They found that the snake has a reduced number of scales on the head, heavily ossified skull, smooth and iridescent scales, small eyes and nostrils, and small neural spine of vertebrae.

According to sci-news.com