Metlapilcoatlus occiduus

Metlapilcoatlus occiduus is a venomous pitviper subspecies[4] endemic to southern Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

Metlapilcoatlus occiduus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Genus: Metlapilcoatlus
Species:
M. occiduus
Binomial name
Metlapilcoatlus occiduus
(Hoge, 1966)
Synonyms
  • Bothrops affinis Bocourt, 1868
  • Bothriopsis affinis
    – Cope, 1871
  • Trigonocephalus affinis
    – Garman, 1884
  • Bothrops nummifer affinis
    – Stuart, 1963
  • Bothrops nummifer occiduus Hoge, 1966 (replacement name for Bothrops affinis Bocourt, 1868)
  • Bothrops nummifer occiduus
    – Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981
  • Porthidium nummifer occiduum
    – Campbell & Lamar, 1989[2]
Common names: Guatemalan jumping pitviper.[3]

Description

Adults are usually 35–60 cm (13 3⁄4–23 5⁄8 in) in total length. The largest specimens reported are a male of 74.8 cm (29 1⁄2 in) from Baja Verapaz, Guatemala, and a female of 79.5 cm (31 1⁄4 in) from Volcán de Agua, Escuintla, Guatemala. The build is very stout, although not so much as that of M. mexicanus.[3]

Geographic range

Found in southern Mexico (southeastern Chiapas), southern and central Guatemala, and western El Salvador.[3] The type locality given is "Saint-Augustín (Guatemala), versant occidentale de la Córdillère. 610 mètres [2,000 ft] d´altitude". Actually, San Augustín is on the southern slope of Volcán Atitlán.[2]

Habitat

Its habitat includes subtropical wet forest on the Pacific versant from southeastern Chiapas, Mexico to western El Salvador. It also inhabits the pine-oak forest near Guatemala City. It can be found at altitudes varying from 1,000–1,600 m (3,300–5,200 ft).

Taxonomy

Regarded as a full species, Metlapilcoatlus occiduus, by Campbell and Lamar (2004).[3]

References
  1. López-Luna, M.A. & Canseco-Márquez, L. 2014. Atropoides occiduus (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T197459A114584467. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T197459A2485704.en. Downloaded on 05 November 2018.
  2. 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).
  3. Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. 2 volumes. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
  4. "Atropoides occiduus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 1 August 2008.

Further reading
  • Hoge, A.R. 1966. Preliminary account on Neotropical Crotalinae (Serpentes: Viperidae). Memórias do Instituto Butantan 32 [1965]: 109–184.


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