Tour guide finds new species of snake while leading group in Cape York

A FAR North tour operator has spotted a rare species of snake in the most unusual of circumstances.

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A RARE species of snake that has only just been discovered in Cape York has been spotted by a Far Northern tour operator.

Cockatours guide and ecologist Brian Ross received confirmation this week that a black and white striped snake he found with a tour group near Bamaga in August was, in fact, the newest species of snake discovered in Australia, the Bandy-Bandy.

The venomous, burrowing species was only just scientifically described in July, after it was found at Weipa.

Mr Ross, who had a DNA analysis of the snake carried out at James Cook University in Townsville, said he was surprised to see the distinctive black-and-white reptile while driving his tour truck along a dirt road.

“I was already keeping an eye out for anything that looked like this snake, and as soon I saw it on the road — the corrugations would have been about 10 times as high as it — I instantly knew what it was,” he said.

“I took it on the bus, and I was like ‘guys — you know about how in the newspaper we read about this new species that they had just described, I think we’ve just found a new specimen of it’.”

He said JCU later confirmed that the snake was one of two intact specimens found in Australia.

Originally published as Tour guide finds new species of snake while leading group in Cape York