New dwarf boa snake species found in Ecuadorian Amazon

Scientists have discovered a new species of dwarf boa in the Ecuadorian Amazon and named it after an Indigenous activist, Report informs, citing ABC.

Up to 20-centimetres long and with skin colorings similar to those of the boa constrictor, the previously unknown snake has been named Tropidophis cacuangoae.

The second part of the name honors early-20th-century Indigenous rights activist Dolores Cacuango, according to Ecuador's environment ministry.

Two specimens were found in the Colonso Chalupas national reserve and in the private Sumak Kawsay park, the discoverers reported.

The snakes are "a relic of time", Ecuadorian researcher Mario Yanez - of the National Biodiversity Institute (INABIO) - said.

The species is unusual for having a "vestigial pelvis", a characteristic of primitive snakes, taken as evidence by some that snakes descended from lizards that lost their limbs over millions of years.