Australia (Commonwealth Union) – Despite the terrifying nature of snakes which most people dread crossing paths with, snakes play a crucial role in food webs by keeping certain pest populations under control, in a similar way that bats keep the insect population in check.
A venomous snake generally noticed in the eastern states has been found in South Australia for the first time, in close proximity to the border with NSW and Victoria. The De Vis’ banded snake, referred to as the mud adder, is critically endangered in Victoria, but a University of South Australia (UniSA) PhD student and local herpetologists (specialist in reptiles and amphibians) recently recorded several sightings at night in the Chowilla Game Reserve a protected area in South Australia.
UniSA PhD student Shawn Scott stated that finding four adult mud adders close to an isolated pool takes South Australia’s full number of venomous snake species to 37. “We found one De Vis’ banded snake with its head exposed and its body and tail concealed in a soil crack while biting onto the left hind limb and thigh of a large adult Southern Bell frog,” he said.
The three other snakes were all seen within the same vicinity, with one at the base of a large River Red Gum and the remaining snakes in soil cracks.
The discovery highlights the requirement for further conservation efforts in the nation’s river systems, particularly for reptiles, as a lot of snake species are small and located in isolated or specialized ecosystems, according to researchers. Scott further stated that to lessen biodiversity loss among the reptiles, it is imperative to monitor not just poorly understood ecosystems but also locations that have substantial survey histories, which can bring in the discovery of species that may have been unnoticed before.
The finding is most certainly likely to strike a positive note among conservationists, with many of their efforts seeing some success across the world. However, most of them would most definitely feel that time is running out to save many more endangered species.
