To use all functions of this page, please activate cookies in your browser.
my.bionity.com
With an accout for my.bionity.com you can always see everything at a glance – and you can configure your own website and individual newsletter.
- My watch list
- My saved searches
- My saved topics
- My newsletter
Bothriechis
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] Additional recommended knowledge
DescriptionSpecies 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 rangeOccurs in southern Mexico (southeastern Oaxacaand the northern highlands of Chiapas), through Central America to northern South America (Colombia, western Venezuela, Ecuador and northern Peru.[1] BehaviorAs 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] VenomBothriechis 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
T) Type species.[1] TaxonomyA 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
References
Further reading
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bothriechis". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |