Scientists Find Shadowy Beast With Large Black Eyes—It's a New Species

Scientists have discovered a new snake species following an encounter with a large black-eyed creature found moving around a mining site on a small island in Papua New Guinea.

The atra tree snake, whose scientific name is Dendrelaphis atra, was found by Fred Kraus, a researcher from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, during his visit to Misima Island in the northwest of the Louisiade Archipelago within the Milne Bay province of Papua New Guinea. Kraus was there as part of a larger project to explore the region's reptile population.

During his visit, the researcher came across several "moderately large" snakes, spanning around four feet and one inch in length, with white chins, black eyes and a "matte black" coloring, according to a study in Zootaxa, where the research findings were published this month.

Unlike other related species, atra tree snakes—which are named after the Latin word for black "atra"—darken in color with age, Kraus noted. A smaller, younger snake was found to have a "gray brown" color while older, larger snakes were described to be "uniformly black," the study said.

Dendrelaphis atra is among four new snake species that were identified in the region and each one is native to a different island in the Milne Bay province, Kraus said.

He said in the study: "Herein I examine the taxonomic status of Dendrelaphis specimens from outlying large islands in Milne Bay Province, off the southeastern tip of New Guinea, and I find that each of the three large islands of the Louisiade Archipelago, as well as Woodlark Island, contain their own endemic species."

The three other new snake species were found on Rossel Island, Sudest Island and Woodlark Island.

Three of the new snake species (D. anthracina, D. melanarkys and D. roseni) belong to the D. papuensis group, while the fourth one (D. atra) belongs to the D. punctulatus group, the study noted.

Papua New Guinea is home to "extraordinary biodiversity, accounting for over 5 percent of the world's total," notes the United Nations Development Programme.

The "Milne Bay province has the richest habitat for endemic reptiles and amphibians on the planet," Kraus said. Papua New Guinea is said to have more than 80 known snake species, and its rich wildlife has yet to be fully uncovered.

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Reference

Kraus, F. (2025) New species of snakes of the genus Dendrelaphis (Squamata: Colubridae) from the Milne Bay Islands, Papua New Guinea. Zootaxa, 5618(4), 451–480. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5618.4.1.