Pit viper
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Pit viper Temporal range:
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Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), showing the characteristic infrared pit below and between the eye and nostril | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Viperidae |
Subfamily: | Crotalinae Oppel, 1811 |
Synonyms | |
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The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers,
These snakes range in size from the diminutive hump-nosed viper, Hypnale hypnale, that grows to a typical total length (including tail) of only 30–45 cm (12–18 in), to the bushmaster, Lachesis muta, a species known to reach a maximum total length of 3.65 m (12.0 ft) in length.
This subfamily is unique in that all member species share a common characteristic – a deep pit, or fossa, in the loreal area between the eye and the nostril on either side of the head. These
Among vipers, these snakes are also unique in that they have a specialized muscle, called the muscularis pterigoidius glandulae, between the venom gland and the head of the ectopterygoid. Contraction of this muscle, together with that of the muscularis compressor glandulae, forces venom out of the gland.[5]
Evolution
The earliest known fossil pit viper remains are from the Early Miocene of Nebraska. As pit vipers are thought to have had an Asian origin before eventually colonizing the Americas, this suggests that they must have originated and diversified even earlier. During the Late Miocene, they reached as far west as eastern Europe, where they are no longer found; it is thought that they did not expand further into Europe.[9]
Geographic range
The subfamily Crotalinae is found from Central Asia eastward and southward to Japan, China, Indonesia, peninsular India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. In the Americas, they range from southern Canada southward to Central America to southern South America.[1]
Habitat
Crotalines are a versatile subfamily, with members found in
Behavior
Although a few species of crotalines are highly active by day, such as
As ambush predators, crotalines typically wait patiently somewhere for unsuspecting prey to wander by. At least one species, the arboreal Gloydius shedaoensis of China, is known to select a specific ambush site and return to it every year in time for the spring migration of birds. Studies have indicated these snakes learn to improve their strike accuracy over time.[11]
Many temperate species of pit vipers (e.g. most rattlesnakes) congregate in sheltered areas or "dens" to overwinter (brumate, see
Like most snakes, crotalines keep to themselves and strike only if cornered or threatened. Smaller snakes are less likely to stand their ground than larger specimens. Pollution and the destruction of rainforests have caused many pit viper populations to decline. Humans also threaten pit vipers, as many are hunted for their skins or killed by cars when they wander onto roads.[citation needed]
Reproduction
With few exceptions, crotalines are ovoviviparous, meaning that the embryos develop within eggs that remain inside the mother's body until the offspring are ready to hatch, when the hatchlings emerge as functionally free-living young. In such species, the eggshells are reduced to soft membranes that the young shed, either within the reproductive tract, or immediately after emerging.
Among the
Brood sizes range from two for very small species, to as many as 86 for the fer-de-lance, Bothrops atrox, which is among the most prolific of all live-bearing snakes.
Many young crotalines have brightly coloured tails that contrast dramatically with the rest of their bodies. These tails are known to be used by a number of species in a behavior known as caudal luring; the young snakes make worm-like movements with their tails to lure unsuspecting prey within striking distance. [12]
Taxonomy
In the past, the pit vipers were usually classed as a separate family: the Crotalidae. Today, however, the monophyly of the viperines and the crotalines as a whole is undisputed, which is why they are treated here as a subfamily of the Viperidae.[citation needed]
Genera
Genus[ref 1] | Taxon author[ref 1] | Species[ref 1] | Common name | Geographic range[ref 2] |
---|---|---|---|---|
Agkistrodon | Palisot de Beauvois, 1799 | 6 | Moccasins | North America from the northeastern and central USA southward through peninsular Florida and southwestern Texas. In Central America on the Atlantic versant from Tamaulipas and Nuevo León southward to the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize and Guatemala. Along the Pacific coastal plain and lower foothills from Sonora south through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua to northwestern Costa Rica. |
Atropoides | Werman, 1992 | 1 | Picado's jumping pitviper | Costa Rica and western Panama |
Bothriechis | Peters, 1859 | 11 | Palm-pitvipers | Southern Mexico (southeastern Oaxaca and the northern highlands of Chiapas), through Central America to northern South America (Colombia, western Venezuela, Ecuador and northern Peru |
Bothrocophias | Gutberlet & Campbell, 2001 | 9 | Toadheaded pit vipers | Northern South America |
Bothrops | Wagler, 1824 | 48 | Lanceheads | Northeastern Mexico (Tamaulipas) southward through Central and South America to Argentina; Saint Lucia and Martinique in the Lesser Antilles; Ilha da Queimada Grande off the coast of Brazil |
Calloselasma | Cope, 1860 | 1 | Malayan pitviper | Southeast Asia from Thailand to northern Malaysia and Java, Indonesia |
Cerrophidion | Campbell & Lamar, 1992 | 5 | Montane pitvipers | Southern Mexico (highlands of Guerrero and southeastern Oaxaca), southward through the highlands of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, northern Nicaragua, Costa Rica) to western Panama |
Craspedocephalus | Kuhl & van Hasselt, 1822 | 15 | Pit viper | India to Thailand to northern Malaysia and Indonesia |
CrotalusT | Linnaeus, 1758 | 51 | Rattlesnakes | The Americas, from southern Canada to northern Argentina |
Deinagkistrodon | Gloyd, 1979 | 1 | Hundred-pace pitviper | Southeast Asia |
Garthius | Malhotra & Thorpe, 2004 | 1 | Mount Kinabalu pit viper, Chasen's mountain pit viper | Borneo |
Gloydius | Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981 | 22 | Asian moccasins | Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, the Himalayas from Pakistan, India, Nepal and China, Korea, Japan and the Ryukyu Islands |
Hypnale | Fitzinger, 1843 | 3 | Hump-nosed pit vipers | Sri Lanka and India |
Lachesis | Daudin, 1803 | 4 | Bushmasters | Central and South America |
Metlapilcoatlus | Campbell, Frost, & Castoe, 2019 | 6 | Jumping pitvipers | The mountains of eastern Mexico southeastward on the Atlantic versant and lowlands though Central America to central Panama. On the Pacific versant, they occur in isolated populations in east-central and southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama. |
Mixcoatlus | Jadin, H.M.Smith & Campbell, 2011 | 3 | Mexican pit vipers | Mexico |
Ophryacus | Cope, 1887 | 3 | Mexican horned pitvipers | Mexico |
Ovophis | Burger, 1981 | 7 | Mountain pit vipers | Nepal and Okinawa) and Indonesia (Sumatra )
|
Porthidium | Cope, 1871 | 9 | Hognose pit vipers | Mexico (Colima, Oaxaca and Chiapas on the Pacific side, the Yucatán Peninsula on the Atlantic side) southward through Central America to northern South America (Ecuador in the Pacific lowlands, northern Venezuela in the Atlantic lowlands) |
Protobothrops | Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1983 | 14 | Pit vipers | Asia |
Sistrurus | Garman, 1883 | 3 | Ground rattlesnakes | Southeastern Canada, eastern, central and northwestern USA, isolated populations in northern and central Mexico |
Trimeresurus | Lacépède, 1804 | 43 | Asian lanceheads | Southeast Asia from India to southern China and Japan, and the Malay Archipelago to Timor |
Tropidolaemus | Wagler, 1830 | 5 | Temple vipers | Southern India and Southeast Asia |
*) Not including the nominate subspecies.[citation needed]
T) Type genus.[ref 2]
- ^ a b c "Crotalinae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 26 October 2006.
- ^ ISBN 1-893777-01-4(volume).
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 1-893777-01-4(volume).
- ^ ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
- ^ Sometimes spelled "pitvipers" – Campbell & Lamar, 2004 [page needed]
- ^ "Crotalinae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 26 October 2006.
- ^ ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
- ISBN 0-8014-9164-9(paper).
- ^ Bullock, T. H. and Diecke, F. P. J. (1956). Properties of an infrared receptor. Journal of Physiology 134, 47-87.
- ISBN 0-448-11856-4.
- ^ "The first European pit viper from the Miocene of Ukraine - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica". www.app.pan.pl. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
- S2CID 18140029. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ Shine R, Sun L, Kearney M, Fitzgerald M (2002). "Why do Juvenile Chinese Pit-Vipers (Gloydius shedoaensis) Select Arboreal Ambush Sites?" Ethology 108: 897–910. ISSN 0179-1613. PDF Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at University of Sydney School of Biological Sciences. Accessed 26 October 2006.
- JSTOR 3891463. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
Further reading
- Gumprecht, Andreas; Tillack, Frank (2004). "A proposal for a replacement name of the snake genus Ermia Zhang, 1993". Russian Journal of Herpetology 11: 73–76.
- Wright, Albert Hazen; Wright, Anna Allen (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 two volumes). (Seventh Printing 1985). ("Crotalidae", p. 901).
- Goris RC (2011). "Infrared organs of snakes: an integral part of vision". Journal of Herpetology 45: 2–14.