What is the smallest species of snake in the world?

The Barbados threadsnake is commonly recognized as the smallest known snake species. This tiny burrowing snake, Tetracheilostoma carlae, averages about 10 centimeters long and is roughly as thin as a spaghetti noodle.

The species is endemic to Barbados and was formally described in 2008 by herpetologist S. Blair Hedges. Some specimens had already been stored in museum collections but were misidentified as another threadsnake. Its name honors Hedges’s wife, Carla Ann Hass, who was part of the discovery team.

The Barbados threadsnake’s miniature size is linked to a specialized lifestyle under rocks and leaf litter, where it is thought to feed mainly on termites and ant larvae. Females produce a single relatively large egg, and the hatchling is about half the mother’s length. Because it is so small and difficult to find, the species was declared lost to science before being rediscovered in Barbados in 2025.