Creature Feature #5

A new species has just been discovered, and it's called Phalotris shawnella.

Credit: Jean-Paul Brouard

This beauty is native to the Cerrado forests of Paraguay, and it's already on the endangered species list. It was discovered by the NGO Fundación Para La Tierra, and is a member of a snake genus comprised of several brightly colored species native to central South America. Can't say much more about it because it's, well, new! What I can say is that this little guy is a big reason to stop ecological destruction, because who knows how many unknown species are missing whenever we fell a forest or mow a prairie?

You can read more about the discovery here.