Bothriechis
| Bothriechis | |
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| File:Bothriechis-nigroviridis-1.jpg | |
| Black-speckled palm-pitviper, B. nigroviridis | |
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| Genus: | Bothriechis Peters, 1859
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Bothriechis is a genus of venomous pitvipers found predominantly in Mexico and Central America, although one species, B. schlegelii, ranges as far south as Colombia and Peru. All members are relatively slender and arboreal. The name Bothriechis is derived from the Greek words bothros and echis that mean "pit" and "viper" respectively.[3] Seven species are currently recognized and no subspecies.[4]
Description
Species that belong to this genus typically reach lengths of 60-80 cm, while B. aurifer, B. bicolor and B. lateralis are known to grow to 1 m or more.[3]
General characteristics include a sharply defined canthus rostralis, an unelevated snout, a rostral scale that is not as high as it is broad, and a prehensile tail that accounts for at least 15% of the body length.[3]
The color pattern usually consists of a green ground color that may or may not include pale or dark markings. B. schlegelii is an exception to this rule.[3]
Geographic range
Occurs in southern Mexico (southeastern Oaxaca and the northern highlands of Chiapas), through Central America to northern South America (Colombia, western Venezuela, Ecuador and northern Peru.[1]
Behavior
As a general rule, species found above 1,500 m altitude tend to be diurnal, while those found below 1,000 m tend to be active at night. Those found between 1,000 and 1,500 m may be active at any time of the day.[3]
Venom
Bothriechis venom is primarily a haemotoxin which causes severe pain, swelling, bleb formation, bruising, and quite often necrosis. If untreated it can lead to loss of a limb, or even death. Each year several farmers and plantation workers are bitten by eyelash vipers, sometimes resulting in fatalities. Wyeth in the United States and Instituto Clodomiro Picado in Costa Rica both manufacture different polyvalent antivenins which can be used to treat eyelash viper envenomations.
Species
| Species[4] | Taxon author[4] | Common name[3] | Geographic range[1] |
|---|---|---|---|
| B. aurifer | (Salvin, 1860) | Yellow-blotched palm-pitviper | Mexico, in the mountains of eastern Chiapas, in northern Guatemala. Occurs in cloud forest at 1200-2300 m altitude. |
| B. bicolor | (Boucourt, 1868) | Guatemalan palm-pitviper | The Pacific slope of southeastern Chiapas in Mexico, eastward to south-central Guatemala. Also known from several locations in Honduras, including the southern part of the Sierra de Merendón and Cerro Santa Bárbara. Occurs in cloud forests at 500-2000 m altitude. |
| B. lateralis | Peters, 1862 | Side-striped palm-pitviper | The mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama, including the Cordillera de Tilarán, the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera de Talamanca to the provinces of Chiriquí Province and Veraguas. Occurs at 850-980 m altitude. |
| B. marchi | (Barbour & Loveridge, 1929) | Honduran palm-pitviper | The Atlantic versant of northwestern Honduras and eastern Guatemala. Occurs in mesic forest at elevations of 500-1500 m altitude. |
| B. nigroviridisT | Peters, 1859 | Black-speckled palm-pitviper | The mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. Also found in the cloud forests of the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera de Talamanca at 1150-2400 m altitude. |
| B. rowleyi | (Bogert, 1968) | Mexican palm-pitviper | Mexico in southeastern Oaxaca and northern Chiapas. Occurs in cloud forests at 1500-1830 m altitude. |
| B. schlegelii | (Berthold, 1846) | Eyelash palm-pitviper | From southern Mexico (northern Chiapas), southeastward on the Atlantic slope and lowlands through Central America to northern South America in Colombia and Venezuela. Also found on the Pacific versant and lowlands in parts of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Occurs in mesic forest at elevations almost from sea level to 2640 m altitude. |
| B. thalassinus | Campbell & Smith, 2000 | none | Guatemala, Honduras at 1370–1750 m altitude. |
Taxonomy
A new species from Guatemala and Honduras, B. thalassinus, was described by Campbell & Smith (2000). Campbell and Lamar (2004) recognize this species, as well as a ninth addition to the genus: B. supraciliaris, which was first described by Taylor (1954) as a subspecies of B. schlegelii, and is found in southwestern Costa Rica.[3]
See also
- List of crotaline species and subspecies
- Crotalinae by common name
- Crotalinae by taxonomic synonyms
- Snakebite
References
- ^ a b c d McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
- ^ Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
- ^ a b c "Bothriechis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. 2 November.
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Further reading
- Campbell JA, Smith EN. 2000. A new species of arboreal pitviper form the Atlantic versant of northern Central America. Revista de Biologia Tropical, 48:1001-1013.
- Cope ED. 1860 (dated 1859). Catalogue of the venomous serpents in the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with notes on the families, genera and species. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 11: 332-347[338].
- Peters W. 1859. Über die von Hrn. Dr. Hoffmann in Costa Rica gesammelten und an das Königl. Zoologische Museum gesandten Schlangen. Monatsberichte der Preussischen Akademie Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1859: 275-278[278].
- Posada Arango. 1889. Anales de la Academia de Medicina de Medellin 2: 45-49[47].
- Posada Arango. 1889. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France. Paris. 14: 343-345[343].
- Salvin O. 1860. On the reptiles of Guatemala. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1860: 451-461[459].
- Taylor EH. 1954. Further studies on the serpents of Costa Rica. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 36(11): 673-801.
External links
- Bothriechis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 14 November 2007.