Researchers from Mapinguari Biogeography and Natural History Laboratory of Amphibians and Reptiles from the UFMS Institute of Biosciences (Inbio) (Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul), discovered the existence of a new species of papagao In the Brazilian Cerrado, the LEPTOPHIS MYSTACINUS.
It all started years ago when the teacher Nelson Rufino, from the UFMS Institute of Biosciences noticed a track after the eyes and a different color pattern in snakes of the genre Leptophis found in Tocantins.
At that time, no additional investigation was carried out, which led Nelson and his colleague Daniel Fernandes to provisionally attribute these specimens to another species until a more complete study of their variation could be performed. Other studies conducted in the following years with individuals with a striped standard Leptophis It revealed the existence of an unparalleled, apparently endemic species of the Cerrado.
“In 2023, while I was as a visiting professor in the United States, I talked to Professor Nelson, who mentioned a different animal in the Cerrado that he had found in his thesis, but still without much evidence to describe it,” he says Diego Santana, professor at Inbio and coordinator of Mapinguari . Now, in 2025, the mysterious species was described as LEPTOPHIS MYSTACINUS.
The bilateral black belt is a feature that differentiates this from other species of papal snakes. “It has this black belt that crosses the eyes and extends through the body, which does not happen in other species,” says Santana. This snake is not venomous, being completely harmless for humans.
THE Discovery reinforces the need to preserve the cerrado, which is the most devastated Brazilian biome today . The destruction of the cerrado grew 43% in 2023 when compared to 2022. Data comprising the devastation of the biome throughout 2024 have not yet been released, but it is worth remembering that this year the cerrado suffered from large fires.
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This content was originally published in Cobra-Papagaio: Get to know the colorful serpent that lives in the trees of Brazil on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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