Bothrops leucurus

Bothrops leucurus, commonly known as the whitetail lancehead or the Bahia lancehead,[3] is a species of venomous snake, a pit viper in the family Viperidae. The species is endemic to Brazil.[1] There are no subspecies which are recognized as being valid.[4] A female owned by youtuber Venom Central is over six feet long.[5]

Bothrops leucurus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Genus: Bothrops
Species:
B. leucurus
Binomial name
Bothrops leucurus
Wagler, 1824
Synonyms
  • Bothrops leucurus
    Wagler, 1824
  • Bothrops Megaera
    Wagler, 1824[1]
  • Trimeresurus pradoi
    Hoge, 1948
  • Bothrops leucurus
    — Fenwick et al., 2009[2]

Etymology

The specific name, leucurus, meaning "whitetail", is from the Latin words leucus (white) and urus (tail).[6]

The specific name, pradoi, of the junior synonym Trimeresurus pradoi, is in honor of Brazilian herpetologist Alcides Prado.[7]

Description and Behavior

The color varies from tan to reddish-brown, the pattern varies, from darker and lighter spots, similar to light diagonal dorsolateral lines. It has 23 to 31 rows of dorsal scale of the medium body, the belly is yellowish or whitish in color with dark, brown or gray spots, and irregular spots on the sides.[8] It is a snake with terrestrial behavior, growing on average in 250–1840 mm, mainly found in forests, arid, semi-arid, dry, humid and sub-humid regions.[9]

Geographic range

Bothrops leucurus is found in eastern Brazil along the Atlantic coast from northern Espírito Santo north to Alagoas and Ceará. It occurs more inland in several parts of Bahia. The identity of disjunct populations west of the Rio São Francisco is uncertain. The type locality is listed as "provinciae Bahiae".[1] It inhabits both urban and rural areas.[10]

Reproduction

Bothrops leucurus is viviparous.[2] The gestation period is four months, and a medium-sized litter is 19 young, birth occurs between winter and summer.[9]

Diet

It feeds on rodents, lizards, amphibians, snakes and birds (Martins et al., 2002).[11] with adults feeding on rodents, and juveniles feeding on frogs and lizards.

Venom

The whitetail lancehead is responsible for the most bites in the state of Bahia. The venom contains high fibrinolytic, proteolytic, hemorrhagic and edematogenic activity, and low coagulant activity, which can cause myonecrosis in humans. Symptoms include local pain, edema, erythema and ecchymosis (local symptoms), hemorrhagic and coagulation symptoms, digestive disorders (nausea, vomiting and diarrhea), urinary disorders (oliguria, anuria, hematuria) with headaches, dizziness, hypotension, bradycardia, visual disturbances and tremors.[9]

References
  1. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 978-1-893777-00-2 (series). ISBN 978-1-893777-01-9 (volume).
  2. "Bothrops leucurus ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. List of Bothrops Complex by scientific name Archived November 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine at Jadin Expeditions. Retrieved 6 November 2006.
  4. "Bothrops leucurus ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 6 November 2006.
  5. "Top 3 Amazons Deadliest | Fer de Lance vs Bushmasters vs Rattlesnakes | MONSTER Deadly Snakes". Retrieved 2021-06-17 – via YouTube.
  6. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes). ("English equivalents of Latin names", p. 3).
  7. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Bothrops pradoi, p. 210).
  8. "Living Hazards Database (LHD) – Search by Scientific Name" (PDF). Acq.osd.mil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  9. Lira-da-Silva, Rejâne Maria (2009-04-08). "BOTHROPS LEUCURUS WAGLER, 1824 (SERPENTES; VIPERIDAE): NATURAL HISTORY, VENOM AND ENVENOMATION". Gazeta Médica da Bahia (in Portuguese). 79 (1). ISSN 0016-545X.
  10. Grego, K. F.; Alves, J. a. S.; Albuquerque, L. C. Rameh de; Fernandes, W. (December 2006). "Referências hematológicas para a jararaca de rabo branco (Bothrops leucurus) recém capturadas da natureza". Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (in Portuguese). 58 (6): 1240–1243. doi:10.1590/S0102-09352006000600040. ISSN 0102-0935.
  11. "Summary identification charts: lizards and snakes", Britain's Reptiles and Amphibians, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 36–38, 2011-12-31, doi:10.1515/9780691206813-010, ISBN 978-0-691-20681-3, retrieved 2020-09-15

Further reading
  • Fenwick AM, Gutberlet RL Jr, Evans JA, Parkinson CL (2009). "Morphological and molecular evidence for phylogeny and classification of South American pitvipers, genera Bothrops, Bothriopsis, and Bothrocophias (Serpentes: Viperidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 156 (3): 617–640.
  • Hoge AR (1948). "Notas erpétologicas. 3. Uma nova espécie de Trimeresurus". Memórias do Instituto Butantan 20: 193–202. (Trimeresurus pradoi, new species). (in Portuguese).
  • Wagler J (1824). In: Spix J (1824). Serpentum Brasiliensium species novae, ou histoire naturelle des espèces nouvelles de serpens ... Munich: F.S. Hübschmann. viii + 75 pp. + Plates I-XXVI. (Bothrops Magaera, new species, p. 50 + Plate XIX). (Bothrops leucurus, new species, p. 57 + Plate XXII, Figure 2). (in French and Latin).
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