Agkistrodon
Agkistrodon | |
---|---|
Eastern copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Viperidae |
Subfamily: | Crotalinae |
Genus: | Agkistrodon Palisot de Beauvois, 1799 |
Synonyms | |
|
Agkistrodon is a
Name origin
The name Agkistrodon comes from the Greek words ankistron (ἄγκιστρον, 'fishhook', with the irregular transliteration gk rather than the usual nk) and odon (ὀδών)[8] 'tooth'[9] and is likely a reference to the fangs.[7]
Some varieties of the genus are given the common name "moccasin" or "moccasin snake" in the United States, which is the Algonquian word for "shoe". The origin of this nickname is unknown. The first known use of "moccasin" to refer to a deadly venomous snake was in a 1765 publication. The nickname is used to refer to both cottonmouths and copperheads. According to the Word Detective, this use may be related to their color and appearance or the silence with which they move.[10] Another source for this name may be the Native American word "mokesoji" of unknown origin and meaning.[11]
Description
Members of this genus have a number of features in common. All species have a relatively broad head with short fangs. A
The phylogeny of the species has long been controversial. Studies based on morphological[6] and venom characteristics[12] support the idea that A. bilineatus and A. contortrix are more closely related. However, an analysis of mitochondrial DNA,[13] as well as more recent molecular studies,[14][15] have concluded that A. bilineatus and A. piscivorus are sister taxa, with A. contortrix being a sister species to them both.[7]
Geographic range
They are found in
Behavior
All are semiaquatic to terrestrial and are often found near sources of water. However, A. contortrix and A. bilineatus are also found in dry habitats, often far from permanent streams or ponds.[7]
Reproduction
The members of this genus are all ovoviviparous.[7]
A 2012 study found that they are not only capable of parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction), but that litters created without a male may account for up to 5% of litters in the wild, even in areas that have males present. This phenomenon had previously only been observed in captive populations. [2]
Venom
Pit vipers of the genus Agkistrodon rely on a potent
The venom of all three species is assumed to be not unlike that of A. contortrix, which contains thrombin-like enzymes that act upon the coagulant activity of the blood. A study of electrophoretic patterns of proteins in venoms among and within populations of A. contortrix and A. piscivorus showed that substantial variation exists,[12] and no reason exists to believe that these differences do not correspond with variations in toxicity.[7]
Research
In a study conducted at the
Species
Image | Species and author[18] | Common name | Geographic range[1][6][7][19] |
---|---|---|---|
A. bilineatus | Cantil [3] |
Mexico and Central America, from southern Sonora, Mexico south to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. | |
A. contortrixT
( Linnaeus 1766) [21]
|
Eastern copperhead[2] | The United States (East Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, eastward to the Atlantic coast, including Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, northern Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts). | |
A. laticinctus | Broad-banded copperhead [2] | Eastern Kansas, central Oklahoma, central and Trans-Pecos Texas, and adjacent areas of northern Chihuahua and Coahuila, Mexico. | |
A. howardgloydi | Gloyd's moccasin [18] | Northwestern Costa Rica, western Nicaragua, southern Honduras. | |
A. piscivorus | Northern cottonmouth [2] | The eastern United States from extreme southeastern Virginia, south through peninsular Florida and west to Arkansas, southeastern Kansas, eastern and southern Oklahoma and eastern and central Texas. A few records exist from along the Rio Grande in Texas, but these are thought to represent isolated populations that possibly no longer exist. | |
A. conanti
Gloyd 1969 [25]
|
Florida cottonmouth[2] | Southernmost Georgia through Florida. | |
A. russeolus
Gloyd, 1972 [26]
|
Yucatecan cantil [3] | Yucatan, Mexico, northern Guatemala, northern Belize. | |
A. taylori
Burger & Robertson, 1951 [27] |
Taylor's cantil [3] | Gulf Coast lowlands of northeast Mexico, primarily southern . |
Taxonomy
This genus was previously much larger and also included the following genera:[1]
- Calloselasma - Ground pit viper found in Southeast Asia (Malaya).
- Deinagkistrodon - The Hundred-pace viper found mostly in southern China.
- Gloydius - Ground pit vipers found in Asia.
- Hypnale - Hump-nosed vipers found in India and Sri Lanka.
References
- ^ ISBN 1-893777-01-4(volume).
- ^ a b c d e Crother, B. I. (ed.). 2017. Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. SSAR Herpetological Circular 43, 1–102 pp. (page 59)
- ^ a b c d Liner, E. A. and G. Casas-Andreu. 2008. Standard Spanish, English and scientific names of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico. Society for the Study Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular 38: i-iv, 1-162. (pages 95-96)
- ^ Porras, Louis W., Larry David Wilson, Gordon W. Schuett, and Randall S. Reiserer 2013. A taxonomic reevaluation and conservation assessment of the common cantil, Agkistrodon bilineatus (Squamata: Viperidae): a race against time. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 7(1): 48–73.
- ^ ISBN 0-916984-20-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
- ^ A variant form of odοus (ὀδούς)); stem: odont- (ὀδόντ-).
- Perseus Project.
- ^ "Moccasin". The Word Detective. January 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
- Catherine C. Hopley (1882). Snakes: curiosities and wonders of serpent life. London, Griffith & Farran; New York, E.P. Dutton & co.
Besides that 'deadly moccasin' and frequent 'black snakes,' there were 'whip snakes,' 'milk snakes,' and many others which the negroes would bring home as trophies of their courageous slaughter; but by no scientific names were they known there. Except this name moccasin or mokesoji, which probably conveyed some especial meaning to the aborigines, few of the Indian vernaculars have been preserved in the United States, as we find them in other parts of America, which latter are treated of in chapters xxii. and xxiii. of this work ; but common English names prevail.
- ^ JSTOR 1443375.
- ISBN 0-9630537-0-1
- JSTOR 1447591.
- ^ Parkinson CL, Moody SM, Ahlquist JE (1997). "Phylogenetic relationships of the "Agkistrodon complex" based on mitochondrial DNS data". pp. 63-78. In: Thorpe RS, Wüster W, Malhotra A (1997). Venomous Snakes: Ecology, Evolution, and Snakebite. Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ "Agkistrodon acutus pit vipers." Medical-Explorer.com; accessed April 2010. [1]
- ^ PMID 17620305.
- ^ a b "Agkistrodon". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2 November 2006.
- ISBN 0-226-73537-0.
- ^ Günther. A. 1863. Third account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 12: 348 - 365
- ^ Linné, C. von [= Linnaeus, C.] 1766. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio duodecima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, Holmiae. 1-532 pp.
- ^ Gloyd H. and Conant R. 1934. The broad-banded copperhead: a new spubspecies of Agkistrodon mokasen. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan, No. 283, p. 2
- ^ Conant, R. 1984. A new subspecies of the pit viper Agkistrodon bilineatus (Reptilia: Viperidae) from Central America. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 97: 135-141
- ^ Lacepède, B. G. E. 1789. Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes Ovipares et de Serpens. Vol.2. lmprimerie du Roi, Hôtel de Thou, Paris, 671 pp.
- ^ Gloyd, H. K. 1969. Two additional subspecies of North American crotalid snakes, genus Agkistrodon. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 82: 219-232
- ^ Gloyd, H. K. 1972. A subspecies of Agkistrodon bilineatus (Serpentes: Crotalidae) on the Yucatán Peninsula, México. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 84: 327-334.
- ^ Burger, W.L. & Robertson,W.B. 1951. A new subspecies of the Mexican moccasin, Agkistrodon bilineatus. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 34 (5): 213-218
Further reading
- Daudin FM (1801-1803). Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des reptiles: ouvrage faisant suit à l'histoire naturelle générale et particulière, composée par Leclerc de Buffon; et rédigée par C.S. Sonnini, miembre de plusieurs sociétés savantes. 8 vols. Paris: F. Dufart. (in French). [For a discussion of the publication date, see Harper F (1940). American Midland Nataturalist 23: 693].
- Fischer JG (1813). Zoognosia tabulis synopticus illustrata, in usum praelectionum Academiae Imperialis medico-chirurgicae Mosquensis edita. 3d ed. vol. 1, pt. 3 (Reptiles, Poissons): 57–117. Moscow: Nicolai Sergeidis Vsevolozsky. (in Latin).
- Fitzinger LJ (1826). Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften: nebst einer Verwandtschafts-Tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. Zoologischen Museums zu Wien. Vienna: J.G. Heubner. five unnumbered + 67 pp. + one plate. (in German and Latin).
- Hubbs B, O'Connor B (2012). A Guide to the Rattlesnakes and other Venomous Serpents of the United States. Tempe, Arizona: Tricolor Books. 129 pp. ISBN 978-0-9754641-3-7.
- Link HF (1807). Beschreibung der naturalien-sammlung der Universität zu Rostock. Zweite abtheilung, pp. 51–100. Rostock: Gebruckt bei Adlers Erben. (in German).
- JSTOR 1005115.
- Sonnini CS, Latreille PA (1801). Histoire naturelle des reptiles, avec figures dissinees dápres nature. 4 Vols. Paris: Deterville. (in French). [For a discussion of the publication date, see Harper F (1940). American Midland Naturalist 23: 692-723].
- Troost G (1836). "On a new genus of serpents, and two new species of the genus Heterodon, inhabiting Tennessee". Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. 3. New York: 174–190.
- Wagler JG (1830). Natürliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Säugthiere und Vögel. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Zoologie. Munich, Stuttgart and Tübingen: J.G. Cotta. vi + 354 pp. + one plate. (in German and Latin).
External links
- Agkistrodon at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 9 August 2007.