Welcome to the jungle: New Guinea snake named after Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash

There’s a new snake in the jungle, and its name will sound familiar to rock fans.

Scientists with the Field Museum in Chicago have named a newly identified, non-venomous groundsnake from New Guinea Lielaphis slashi, in honour of Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. 

The roughly 71-centimetre reddish-brown reptile is now officially known as Slash’s groundsnake.

For Slash, the recognition hits close to home. The Field Museum describes him as a “lifelong reptile lover and an avid supporter of zoos and museums.”

He has long worn his love of snakes on his sleeve and in his musical choices. In 1994, he formed the rock supergroup Slash’s Snakepit, which included members of Guns N’ Roses, Alice in Chains and Jellyfish.

In a Field Museum statement, Slash described himself as a “long-time herpephile” — referring to herpetophiles, or people with a strong interest in reptiles and amphibians.

“I am extremely honored and humbled to have Lielaphis slashi from New Guinea named after me,” he said.

“It is really exciting. I never would have imagined this moment would arrive.”

A lifelong interest in snakes

Sara Ruane, the Field Museum’s associate curator of herpetology and senior author of a paper in Zootaxa describing the new species, said her interest in reptiles began early.

“By fifth grade, I was already telling my teacher I’m going to be a herpetologist when I grow up,” she told CBC News.

When she was 12, Ruane received a copy of Reptiles Magazine featuring Slash holding his pet reticulated python on the cover.

“I thought, you know, I’d love to name a snake after Slash. I thought that would be really fun,” she said.

In the magazine interview, Slash discussed his affection for reptiles, museums, zoos and natural history. Years later, after becoming a scientist who occasionally names newly identified reptile species, she remembered the article.

“To me, just getting to describe and name a species is a huge privilege,” Ruane said. “That’s something that most people never get to do.”

Naming the snake after Slash, she added, was “the icing on the cake” for the project.

Ruane says she got to show Slash around the Field Museum when he was visiting Chicago.

“It was just like talking to anybody else who really loves snakes and reptiles and natural history,” she said. Slash is also a fan of dinosaurs, she added, and “certainly knows more about dinosaurs than I do.”

“If he wasn’t such an amazing guitarist, just from my conversations with him, I would see he would have been an amazing scientist.”

A snake hiding in plain sight

Slash’s groundsnake was first encountered in 2006, when Chris Austin, a professor and curator of herpetology at Louisiana State University’s Museum of Natural Science, was conducting fieldwork in New Guinea.

The island, which lies just north of Australia and is divided politically between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, is home to extraordinary biodiversity that has not been thoroughly studied.

The lush forests of the island might sound like a Paradise City, but it remains a challenging territory for scientists.

The search for groundsnakes requires caution because some venomous species in the region can look similar to their harmless counterparts.

Also, unlike birds or other conspicuous animals, snakes spend much of their time hidden and motionless, which makes them challenging to find.

The snake’s appearance alone did not make it obvious that researchers were looking at a new species. Genetic testing showed that Lielaphis slashi was distinct from other snakes in the same genus.

Researchers say Slash’s groundsnake is not considered a threat to people. They believe it may use enlarged teeth toward the back of its mouth to seize small lizards and reptile eggs. Unlike a boa constrictor, it does not overpower prey by squeezing it, and it produces no venom capable of seriously harming humans.

Conservationists say the species faces a more serious danger from people. The forests where Slash’s groundsnakes live are under pressure from industries including coffee farming and mining.

Naming the animal, Ruane said, is more than a tribute to a rock star. It is also a way to bring attention to an ecosystem that scientists are still working to understand.

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“You don’t have to love them,” she said of snakes. “But you can appreciate how cool they are, the important role they play in our ecosystem and in our natural world.”

So while Guns N’ Roses may once have been branded “the most dangerous band in the world” by music journalists in the 1980s, this particular Slash is considerably less threatening.

It is simply a small forest snake, quietly making its way through New Guinea — and now enjoying a permanent place in the rock and roll hall of names.