A new species of venomous snake has been discovered in Queensland but scientists fear it may already be at risk of extinction.

The newest member of the bandy bandy snake family, named Vermicella Parscauda, has been found at Weipa on Cape York Peninsula, near Rio Tinto's bauxite mining operations.

University of Queensland biologist Bryan Fry found the snake on a loading wharf, with the discovery detailed in a new paper published in the international journal Zootaxa.

A new species of venomous bandy-bandy snake has been discovered by researchers from The University of Queensland in Weipa. Picture: Supplied (Bryan Fry)

Prof Fry said his team literally stumbled upon the new snake species.

"We were actually out looking for sea snakes and when we came back into the dock that night, there is a little snake at the end of the concrete dock," Prof Fry told the TODAY Show.

"We recognised it immediately as a bandy bandy, which is a burrowing snake. We were trying to figure out why is this snake hanging out on a concrete boat ramp, but we noticed that we were right next to Rio Tinto's big ship loader where they were putting all the bauxite mine on.

"It had crawled out from a pile of rubble there. We found a couple more in the wild."

Scientists believe the snake may already be under threat of extinction. Picture: Supplied (Bryan Fry)

Only six specimens of the new snake have been found. Prof Fry believes they may only be living in the mining area, and that could mean trouble for the species.

"It is very unique, relative to all of the other bandy bandies, and it reinforces how little we really know about our biodiversity and how much we might be losing through short-term economic activities.

"You can only dig a hole in the ground one time, but if you lose your biodiversity, that is forever, and the reason that we should care about this is that these kinds of animals, venomous animals, are a rich source of natural compounds.

Biologist Bryan Fry found the snake on a loading wharf. Picture: AAP (Bryan Fry)

"For example, if you know of anybody taking high blood pressure medication, odds are they are taking Captopril or one of its derivatives. That is a modified snake toxin developed 40 years ago, but remains today a $10 billion year market for that one compound.

"It is up there with aspirin and being one of the top 20 drugs of all time. So that is why we should care about these enigmatic little animals, that they could actually be worth more in the long term than the mining activities that are threatening their existence.

The new snake species is about 30-40cm long, and features thin white bands, and fatter black bands along its body.

There are now five recognised species of the bandy bandy genus, all in Australia.