Lachesis melanocephala
Lachesis melanocephala is a venomous pit viper species found in Costa Rica and Panama. No subspecies are currently recognized.[3][4]
| Lachesis melanocephala | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Viperidae |
| Genus: | Lachesis |
| Species: | L. melanocephala |
| Binomial name | |
| Lachesis melanocephala Solórzano & Cerdas, 1986 | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Common names
Common names include black-headed bushmaster, [5] as well as cascabel muda ("silent rattlesnake") and matabuey in Spanish.
Description
Adults frequently grow to 1.9–2 m (6.2–6.6 ft) in total length. The largest reported specimens were 2.3 m (7.5 ft) by Solórzano (2004), and 2.4 m (7.9 ft) by Ripa (2001).
The top of the head is uniform black in color,[5] to which the specific name, melanocephala, and common name refer to.
Geographic range
L. melanocephala is found in Costa Rica on the Pacific versant of southeastern Puntarenas province from near sea level to about 1500 m (about 4,900 feet). It is also found in Finca Hartmann in Panama's Chiriqui Province. The type locality given is "tropical rainforest 9 km northern of Ciudad Neily in southeastern Provincia de Puntarenas, Costa Rica."[2]
Campbell and Lamar (2004) describe its range as southwestern Costa Rica and possibly extreme western Panama, but state that almost all locality records are from Puntarenas province.[5][6] Savage 2002 and Dwyer and Perez 2009 confirmed its existence in Panama.[1]
References
- Solórzano, A., Porras, L.W., Chaves, G., Acosta Chaves, V. & Dwyer, Q. (2021). "Lachesis melanocephala". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T203668A2769585. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - 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).
- Lachesis melanocephala at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 19 March 2015.
- "Lachesis melanocephala". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
- 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.
- Fernandez, Ileana (2022-09-01). "Rare "Plato Negro" Snake Species Rescued in Costa Rica". The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
Further reading
- Solórzano, Alejandro, and Luis Cerdas. 1986. A new subspecies of the bushmaster, Lachesis muta, from southeastern Costa Rica. Journal of Herpetology 20 (3): 463–466. (Lachesis muta melanocephala")