Researchers identified Dasypeltis albigularis as a new egg-eating snake in Ethiopia’s Harenna Forest after seven years of DNA sequencing, physical comparisons and captive-breeding work. The female was initially mistaken for a juvenile Montane Egg-eater, Dasypeltis atra.
Before this discovery, 18 egg-eating snake species and one subspecies were known. Dasypeltis albigularis has white to light-blue skin beneath its black scales and a white throat and underside. Unlike similar snakes, it cannot make their rasping warning sound, and researchers do not yet know its defensive tactic.
