Snakes in Hawaii !
Snakes, not worms.
The herpetological inventory (reptiles and amphibians) in West Hawai’i Island national parks was developed in order to determine which species of amphibians and reptiles have established populations on park lands in Hawaii, and if any of the species pose a threat to native Hawaiian ecosystems. We surveyed three national park units on the west side of the Big Island: Puuhonua o Hōnaunau, Kaloko-Honokōhau, and Puukoholā Heiau (PUHE). While the majority of the “herps” that we encountered during the surveys are familiar to most Hawai’i residents, I noticed that one particularly seldom-seen species was often found at PUHE: a blind snake (Ramphotyphlops braminus), usually located low on the trunks of kiawe trees.
The blind snake is one of two species of snakes found in Hawaii, the other being the yellow-bellied sea snake, a rare visitor to Hawaiian waters. The blind snake usually goes unnoticed due to its burrowing lifestyle and its superficial resemblance to worms. Before working at PUHE my only encounter with a blind snake was the unexpected emergence of an individual through a crack in the tile of my bathroom floor. Due to the scarcity of tile floors at the historic site, I decided to venture into habitats slightly less anthropogenic. Based on second hand accounts I expected to find blindsnakes beneath potted plants in wet, shaded gardens — so to find the snakes climbing trees in dry, dusty soil was a real surprise.
This pan-Asian fossorial (underground) species of snake was introduced to Hawaii around 1930 from the Philippines. An unusual characteristic of the blind snake is that it is the only known species of snake to be parthenogenic; that is, all members of this species are female. For the full inventory report visit: http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/techr/141/v141.pdf
— Jason Bazzano, Field biotech