Porthidium

Taxobox
name = "Porthidium"


image_caption = Rainforest hognosed pitviper, "P. nasutum"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia = Viperidae
subfamilia = Crotalinae
genus = "Porthidium"
genus_authority = Cope, 1871
synonyms = * "Porthidium" - Cope, 1871McDiarmid 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).]

:"Common names: hognosed pitvipers.Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.] ""Porthidium" is a genus of venomous pitvipers found in Mexico and southward to northern South America. The name is derived from the Greek words "portheo" and the suffix "-idus", which means "destroy" and "having the nature of"; apparently a reference to the venom. Seven species are currently recognized.ITIS|ID=585667|taxon="Porthidium"|year=2006|date=4 November]

Description

This is a groups of group of small species, adults ranging in size from 55 cm ("P. dunni" and "P. yucatanicum") to 75 cm in length ("P. lansbergii" and "P. ophryomegas"). In addition, the body shape ranges from relatively slender ("P. ophryomegas") to relatively stout ("P. nasutum"). All have a sharply defined "canthus rostralis" and a rostral scale that is higher than it is broad. The tip of the snout may slightly to moderately elevated ("P. hespere", "P. lansbergii", "P. ophryomegas" and "P. volcanicum"), strongly elevated ("P. dunni" and "P. yucatanicum"), or not elevated at all.

All species have a color pattern that usually consists of brown or gray color overlaid with a series of dark paraventral blotches that are separates by a pale and narrow vertebral stripe. The blotches are square, rectangular or triangular in shape. With some species, the color pattern is determined by the sex.

Geographic range

Found in Mexico (Colima, Oaxaca and Chiapas on the Pacific side, the Yucatan Peninsula on the Atlantic side) southward through Central America to northern South America (Ecuador in the Pacific lowlands, northern Venezuela in the Atlantic lowlands).

pecies

"*) Not including the nominate subspecies."
^T) Type species.

ee also

* List of crotaline species and subspecies
*
*
* Snakebite

References

External links

*
* [http://www.herpbreeder.com/worldspecies/Snakes/vipers/porthidium.htm "Porthidium"] at [http://www.herpbreeder.com/ Herpbreeder.com] . Accessed 15 September 2007.