Bothrocophias
| Bothrocophias | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Bothrocophias | ||||||||||||
| Gutberlet & Campbell , 2001 |
Bothrocophias is a snake species from the subfamily of pit vipers . The genus occurs with five species in the northwest of South America. The snakes are ground-living and inhabit moist tropical forests from the rainforest of the lowlands to mountain cloud forests. All species are poisonous, the few data on the poisonous effect in humans range from mild courses with short-term pain and slight swellings to severe poisoning and isolated deaths.
features
anatomy
The species of Bothrocophias are medium-sized to large, medium- slender to very strong and very stocky snakes. The large head is very broad , especially posteriorly, and clearly set off from the neck, the snout is pointed to rounded and the eyes are relatively small. The canthus is very sharp-edged and the tip of the snout is variable in strength, medium strength or not at all curved upwards, depending on the species. The slender tail is not suitable for grasping and is of medium length, making up 12 to 18% of the total length. The smallest species ( B. hyoprora ) usually reaches total lengths of 40 to 50 cm, a maximum of 83 cm, the largest species ( B. colombianus ) reaches a maximum of 136 cm.
Scaling
The rostral is as tall or taller than it is wide. There are three praeocularia , the upper one of which is significantly larger than the others. The species usually only show a narrow, elongated subocular , but occasionally it is also divided into several small scales. The top of the head is covered with small, smooth or keeled scales of different sizes. There are 2 to 10 smooth, keeled, or granular intersupraoculars between the large and relatively broad supraocularia . The number of supralabials is 7 to 9, the number of infralabials 8 to 11. The number of abdominal scales ( ventral shields ) varies between 118 and 177, the number of divided or undivided subcaudalia between 38 and 64 and the number of dorsal rows of scales in the middle of the body between 21 and 25.
coloring
The basic color of the top is variable rust brown, gray brown, pink or orange, dark brown or almost black. For this reason, the animals show a row of broad, dark transverse bands on their backs, which often run triangular on the sides. In older individuals, these transverse bands can only be very faintly visible. The sides of the head can show a conspicuous, light or dark rear eye stripe ( postocular stripe ) or be predominantly dark in color. A striking characteristic of the genus are the yellow, white or pale blue-gray spots or dark-edged eye spots on the infralabialia.
distribution and habitat
Bothrocophias occurs with five species in the northwest of South America, of which two species live west and three east of the Andes . The distribution area extends from northern Colombia to central Bolivia . The animals inhabit moist tropical forests there, from the rainforest of the lowlands to mountain cloud forests up to a maximum height of 2350 m. As far as is known, the species are relatively rare everywhere.
Systematics
Campbell & Lamar recognize 5 species for which no subspecies are recognized:
- Bothrocophias campbelli (Freire-Lascano, 1991)
- Bothrocophias colombianus ( Rendahl & Vestergren, 1940)
- Bothrocophias hyoprora (Amaral, 1935)
- Bothrocophias microphthalmus (Cope, 1875)
- Bothrocophias myersi Gutberlet & Campbell, 2001
The genus was only described in 2001, the species of the genus were until then mostly placed with the American lanceolers (genus Bothrops ). The previous molecular genetic investigations suggest a monophyly of the genus Bothrocophias , a molecular genetic investigation including all five species is not yet available.
Lifestyle, Diet and Reproduction
All species are almost exclusively living on the ground, so far there is hardly any information about daily activities. According to the little known data, these snakes eat frogs, small lizards and small mammals . All species are viviparous. Information on reproduction is also scarce. In one case, 36 embryos were found in a female of B. microphthalmus .
Poison
The few data on the toxic effects in humans are not uniform, they range from slight courses with short-term pain and slight swellings to severe poisoning with blood clotting disorders , spontaneous bleeding and necrosis to isolated deaths.
swell
Individual evidence
- ^ Jonathan A. Campbell, William W. Lamar: The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock; Ithaca, London; 2004: p. 325
- ^ David A. Warrell: Snakebites in Central and South America: Epidemiology, Clinical Features, and Clinical Management . In: Jonathan A. Campbell, William W. Lamar: The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock; Ithaca, London. 2004: p. 736
literature
- David A. Warrell: Snakebites in Central and South America: Epidemiology, Clinical Features, and Clinical Management . In: Jonathan A. Campbell, William W. Lamar: The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock; Ithaca, London. 2004. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2 : pp. 709-761.
- Jonathan A. Campbell, William W. Lamar: The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock; Ithaca, London; 2004 ISBN 0-8014-4141-2