Yellow-spotted palm-lance viper

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Yellow-spotted palm-lance viper
Yellow-spotted palm-lance viper (Bothriechis aurifer)

Yellow-spotted palm-lance viper ( Bothriechis aurifer )

Systematics
Subordination : Snakes (serpentes)
Superfamily : Adder-like and viper-like (Colubroidea)
Family : Vipers (Viperidae)
Subfamily : Pit vipers (Crotalinae)
Genre : Palm lance vipers ( bothriechis )
Type : Yellow-spotted palm-lance viper
Scientific name
Bothriechis aurifer
( Salvin , 1860)

The yellow-spotted palm -lance viper ( Bothriechis aurifer ), also yellow-spotted palm -lance viper , Guatemala-lance viper , or yellow-spotted lance-viper , is a type of palm -lance viper ( Bothriechis ) within the pit viper (Crotalinae). Their range is limited to southern Mexico and the highlands of Guatemala .

features

The yellow-spotted palm lance viper reaches a maximum body length of around 70 centimeters, with individual specimens also being up to one meter long. It has a light, yellowish-green basic color with black and yellow spots. Solid green or yellow-green specimens are rare. The belly side is yellowish green and the tail end is yellow. The top of the head is also spotted black and a wide, black band extends from the eyes to the corners of the mouth. The iris is bronze or yellow-green.

distribution and habitat

Distribution area

The range of the snake is limited to the eastern Chiapas in Mexico and the highlands of Guatemala . It occurs there only in the cloud and cloud forests of higher elevations between 1200 and 2300 m.

Systematics

The yellow-spotted palm lance viper is one of seven species of the palm lance viper ( bothriechis ) and thus the American pit viper. Until a few years ago, the entire genus was assigned to the American lance otters ( Bothrops ). After the revision of the former large genus by Burger in 1971 and Steven D. Werman in 1992, it was assigned as a separate genus.

Within the palm lance viper it is the sister species of Bothriechis rowleyi , with which it shares common features of body and head scaling as well as molecular biological features.

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 Ophryacus undulatus (as sister species)


  Palm lance vipers  

 Raptic lance viper ( B. schlegelii )


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 Black-spotted palm-lance viper ( B. nigroviridis )


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 Rowley's palm lance viper ( B. rowleyi )


   

 Yellow-spotted palm lance viper ( B. aurifer )



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 Green and yellow palm lance viper ( B. lateralis )


   

 Two-colored palm lance viper ( B. bicolor )



   

 March's palm lance viper ( B. marchi )







Snake venom

Pit viper poisons contain a mixture of enzymes , low molecular weight polypeptides , metal ions and other components whose function has not yet been fully understood. The effects of these poisons are correspondingly diverse. As with all species of the genus, the venom of the yellow-spotted palm lance viper has tissue-destroying and neurotoxic components.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steven D. Werman: Phylogenitic Relationships of Central and South American Pitvipers of the Genus Bothrops (sensu lato): Cladistic Analyzes of Biochemical and Anatomical Characters. In: Jonathan A. Campbell, Edmund D. Brodie Jr .: The Biology of the Pitvipers. Selva, Tyler (Texas) 1992; Pp. 21-40, ISBN 0-9630537-0-1

literature

  • Brian L. Crother, Jonathan A. Campbell, David M. Hillis: Phylogeny and Historical Biogeography of the Palm-Pitvipers, Genus Bothriechis : Biochemical and Morphological Evidence. In: Jonathan A. Campbell, Edmund D. Brodie Jr. (Eds.): Biology of the Pitvipers. Selva, Tyler (Texas), 1992; Pp. 1-20, ISBN 0-9630537-0-1

Web links

Commons : Bothriechis aurifer  - album with pictures, videos and audio files