Bothriechis is a genus of pit vipers, commonly called palm vipers[2] or palm-pit vipers[3] found predominantly in Mexico and Central America, although the most common species, B. schlegelii, ranges as far south as Colombia and Peru.[4] 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] Ten species and no subspecies are currently generally recognized.[5][6]
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]
As a general rule, species found above 1,500 meters altitude tend to be diurnal, while those found below 1,000 meters tend to be active at night. Those found between 1,000 and 1,500 meters may be active at any time of the day.[3]
Venom
Bothriechisvenom 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.
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 del Merendón and Cerro Santa Bárbara. Occurs in cloud forests at 500–2000 m altitude.
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.
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.
Only found in a mountainous area in southwestern Costa Rica. Occurs in lower montane wet forest and cloud forest at elevations from 800 m to 1,700 m.[10]
In 2024, a systematic revision of B. schlegelii through DNA-sequencing split it into an additional number of species: B. klebbai, B. rasikusumorum, B. khwargi, B. rahimi, and B. hussaini. At the same time names that were previously synonyms were revalidated: B. nigroadspersus (Steindachner, 1870), B. nitidus (Günther, 1859), and B. torvus (Posada Arango, 1889a). Due to the close relation between these species alongside B. supraciliaris, they are considered to be part of a B. schlegelii species complex, otherwise referred to as the "eyelash clade" within Bothriechis. These "eyelash vipers" form a monophyletic clade that is sister to the rest of the genus.[9]
B. guifarroi was discovered in 2010 and described by Townsend et al. in 2013, in a study that included the following suggested phylogenetic tree of the genus:[6]
Phylogeny (Arteaga et al. 2024)
Bothriechis
B. schlegelli (Ecuador)
B. supraciliaris
B. schlegelli (Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua)
B. nigroviridis
B. lateralis
B. guifarroi
B. marchi (Honduras, Guatemala)
B. thalassinus
B. bicolor
B. aurifer
B. rowleyi
References
^ abcdMcDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN1-893777-01-4 (volume).
^Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN0-8069-6460-X.
^ abcdefghCampbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN0-8014-4141-2.
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. Philadelphia11: 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 Berlin1859: 275-278 [278].
Posada Arango A. 1889. Anales de la Academia de Medicina de Medellin2: 45-49 [47].
Posada Arango A. 1889. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France, Paris14: 343-345 [343].
Salvin O. 1860. "On the reptiles of Guatemala". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London1860: 451-461 [459].
Taylor EH. 1954. "Further studies on the serpents of Costa Rica". University of Kansas Science Bulletin36 (11): 673–801.
External links
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