Lachesis (genus)
Lachesis | |
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South American bushmaster, L. muta | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Viperidae |
Subfamily: | Crotalinae |
Genus: | Lachesis Daudin, 1803 |
Synonyms | |
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Lachesis (also known
Taxonomy
The genus Lachesis was traditionally composed of only three species, but Campbell and Lamar (2004) recognized a fourth species, L. acrochorda (García, 1896), referring to it as the Chochoan bushmaster.[2] Its evolutionary relationships are not certain, but Lachesis acrochorda is thought to be closer to L. muta than to the two Central American species L. stenophrys and L. melanocephala.
Species
Species[4] | Taxon author[4] | Subsp.*[4] | Common name[2] | Geographic range[1] |
---|---|---|---|---|
L. acrochorda | (García, 1896) | 0 | Chocoan bushmaster | Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. |
L. melanocephala | Solórzano & Cerdas, 1986 | 0 | Black-headed bushmaster | Costa Rica: Pacific versant of southeastern Puntarenas province from near sea level to about 1500 m. |
L. mutaT | (Linnaeus, 1766) | 1 | South American bushmaster | South America in the equatorial forests east of the Andes: Colombia, eastern Ecuador, Peru, northern Bolivia, eastern and southern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and much of northern Brazil. Also occurs on the island of Trinidad.[5] |
L. stenophrys | Cope, 1875 | 0 | Central American bushmaster | Central America in the Atlantic lowlands of southern Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, as well as the Pacific lowlands of central and eastern Panama. In South America it occurs in the Pacific lowlands of Colombia and northwestern Ecuador, the Caribbean coast of northwestern Colombia and inland along the Magdalena and Cauca River valleys. |
* Not including the nominate subspecies.
T Type species.
Description
Adults of the genus Lachesis typically range in total length (including tail) from 2 to 3 m (6.6 to 9.8 ft), although some may grow to as much as 4 m (13 ft), making Lachesis the longest genus of venomous snake in the
Geographic range
Lachesis species are found in Central and South America, as well as the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean.[1][5]
Reproduction
Bushmasters lay
Venom
Bushmasters are capable of multiple-bite strikes and the injection of large amounts of venom. Even the bite of a juvenile specimen can be fatal to a human. However, these snakes are rarely encountered; so snakebite incidents are not common. The venom of Lachesis has several activities, such as the activation of
Cultural depictions
A bushmaster snake is the antagonist in the tenth episode of the radio show
Jack T. Colton killed a bushmaster in the film Romancing the Stone from 1984 when seeking shelter in a crashed plane.
A bushmaster snake bit a character in the film Primal in 2019.
The Marvel Comics supervillain Bushmaster is named after the genus.
The following weapons and military vehicles are named after this viper:
- M242 Bushmaster, a chain gun manufactured by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems;
- Bushmaster IMV, an Australian infantry mobility vehicle;
- A variant of the amphibious Landing Vehicle Tracked introduced in 1944, the LVT-3 Bushmaster.
References
- ^ ISBN 1-893777-01-4(volume).
- ^
- ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Lachesis, p. 149).
- ^ a b c d "Lachesis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
- ^ a b List of Snakes of Trinidad and Tobago Archived 2006-08-08 at the Wayback Machine at Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Biodiversity Clearing House Archived 2012-12-21 at archive.today. Accessed 25 October 2006.
- ^ Boyer, Donal M.; Mitchell, Lyndon A.; Murphy, James B. (1989). "Reproduction and husbandry of the bushmaster Lachesis m. muta at the Dallas Zoo". International Zoo Yearbook 28 (1): 190–194.
- ^ Corrales, Greivin; Meidinger, Robert; Rodríguez, Santos; Chacon, Danilo; Gomez, Aaron (2014). "Reproduction in captivity of the Central American bushmaster (Lachesis stenophrys, Serpentes: Viperidae), in Costa Rica". Cuadernos de Herpetología 28 (2).
- ^ Ripa, D. (2001). The Bushmasters (Genus Lachesis Daudin 1803); Morphology, Evolution, and Behavior. Wilmington, North Carolina: Ecologica.
- ^ Zamudio, K.R.; Greene, H.W. (1997). "Phylogeography of the bushmaster (Lachesis muta: Viperidae): implications for neotropical biogeography, systematics, and conservation". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 62 (3): 421–442.
- ISBN 1-58544-116-3.
- ^ Allf, B.C.; Durst, P.A.; Pfennig, D.W. (2016). "Behavioral plasticity and the origins of novelty: the evolution of the rattlesnake rattle". American Naturalist 188 (4): 475–483.
- ^ Souza, Rodrigo C.G. de; Nogueira, Ana Paula Bhering; Lima, Tiago; Cardoso, João Luiz C. (2007). "The Enigma of the North Margin of the Amazon River: Proven Lachesis Bites in Brazil, Report of Two Cases, General Considerations about the Genus and Bibliographic Review" (PDF). Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society. 42 (7): 105–115. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
Further reading
- Eatherley, Dan (2015). Bushmaster: Raymond Ditmars and the Hunt for the World's Largest Viper. New York: Arcade. 320 pp. ISBN 978-1628725117.
- ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
- ISBN 0-691-12436-1.
External links
- Lachesis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 24 August 2007.