America's rarest snake found choked to death on giant centipede in Florida

There have only been 26 sightings of this species of snake. Florida is its only habitat on Earth. (Drew Martin) KEY LARGO, Fla. - For the first time in four years, researchers said, the rarest snake in North America was spotted earlier this year in Florida, but it appears its eyes may have been too big for its stomach.According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the rim rock crowned snake is a tiny reptile, growing to less than a foot in length, that is only found in a very small part of southeast Florida and the Florida Keys.

The head, also known as the crown, is black to light brown, while the belly ranges from yellow to red with black spots.Researchers at the Florida Museum of Natural History said in a study published Saturday in the journal Ecology, a hiker found the snake on the side of a trail at a park in Key Largo, Florida, in February.

What was even more astonishing to researchers was that the snake appeared to have choked on its last meal – a giant centipede about a third of the snake's length.

Researchers said they believe the size of the centipede cut off the snake's air supply at its widest part."I was amazed when I first saw the photos," Coleman Sheehy, the Florida Museum’s herpetology collection manager and author of the study in a press release. "It’s extremely rare to find specimens that died while eating prey, and given how rare this species is, I would never have predicted finding something like this.