A visitor to a park got the shock of their life when they arrived to find the gruesome corpse of a dead snake with a giant centipede stuck down its gullet.
The rim rock crowned snake, which is the rarest snake in North America, hadn't been seen in the wild by scientists for at least four years, so when boffins were called down to the Florida park – they were shocked to discover such a grim sight.
The John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park visitor found the dead snake earlier this year after it had choked on a giant centipede which was still lodged partway down its throat. The centipede – swallowed headfirst – was also dead.
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Now, while this sounds as though the snake must have choked after biting off a bit more than it could chew, researchers have also suggested the snake may have succumbed to a lethal dose of the centipede's venom – as published in a new study in the journalThe Scientific Naturalist on September 4, according to LiveScience.
Measuring between six to 11 inches, the rim rock snake is not venomous, is only usually found in the Florida Keys and along the state's south-eastern Atlantic coast, and has been on the state's list of threatened species since 1975.
"Rim rock crowned snakes have never been easy to find on Key Largo or elsewhere," said lead study author Kevin Enge, an associate research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"These small, burrowing snakes spend most of their time hiding under leaf litter or in soil pockets, and are typically only seen after heavy rains force them to the surface."
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When the park visitor found the 8ins dead snake, the reptile's mouth was gaping wide and the back end of a three-inch-long juvenile Caribbean giant centipede was hanging out.
This is when park rangers contacted scientists with the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) in Gainesville, who brought the snake and centipede to the museum's herpetology collection.
"As a snake biologist in Florida, this finding was extremely exciting," said study co-author Coleman Sheehy, a researcher and collection manager at the FLMNH.
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"We have 15 preserved specimens at the Florida Museum, which is half of all the known specimens of this species known anywhere. We also have the holotype and paratype specimens, which are the specimens on which the original species description is based. However, we do not have any specimens like this that died while eating prey, and I don't think anyone else does either."
Another potential cause of death may have been a venomous sting from the front legs of the dying centipede.
But it is also possible the snake was wounded before swallowing the centipede and scientists noted the venom didn't stop it from subduing its meal – suggesting the species has some resistance to centipede toxins. This however, has not been confirmed.
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