A tiny, elusive snake species that hadn’t been documented for nearly 20 years has been rediscovered in Barbados. Scientists were thrilled to find an individual Barbados threadsnake (Tetracheilostoma carlae) under a rock while conducting an ecological survey earlier this year,

For nearly two decades, no one had spotted the world’s smallest-known snake. Some scientists worried that maybe the Barbados threadsnake had become extinct, but one sunny morning, Connor Blades lifted a rock in a tiny forest in the eastern Caribbean island and held his breath.