Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Vertebrata Suborder Serpentes Scientific name Bothrops campbelli Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Order Squamata Family Viperidae Higher classification Bothrops | |
 | ||
Similar Bothrocophias, Snake, Pit viper, Bothrops, Vipers | ||
Bothrops campbelli is a venomous pitviper species endemic to South America. No subspecies are currently recognized.
Contents
Etymology
Bothrops campbelli was named in honor of American herpetologist Jonathan A. Campbell.
Description
The sizes of the specimens available range from the type specimen, an adult male 87.0 cm (34 1⁄4 in) in total length (Freire-Lascano, 1991), to 105.7 cm (41 5⁄8 in) for a large gravid female (Freire-Lascano and Kuch, 2000), to 121.9 cm (48.0 in) for a specimen from Imbabura, Ecuador, and another of 123.0 cm (48 3⁄8 in) from the type locality.
The scalation includes 21-25 (usually 23) rows of dorsal scales at midbody, all of which are keeled except for the first rows. The posterior dorsals have tubercular keels, even in small specimens, while in large specimens these keels are highly elevated. There are 152-167/159-177 ventral scales in males/females and 51-64/48-60 paired subcaudal scales in males/females. On the head there are 3-8 intersupraocular scales, 7-8 supralabial scales, the second of which is usually fused with the prelacunal to form a lacunolabial, and 9-10 (usually 9) sublabial scales.
Geographic range
Found in the Pacific lowlands and slopes from west-central Colombia to Ecuador. The type locality given is "Recinto Huagal-Sacramento, cantón Pallatanga, Provincia de Chimborazo, Ecuador. 1500-2000 mts. de altura [4,900-6,600 feet]".
Taxonomy
In previous accounts, this species has often been included in Bothrops pulcher, e.g. Lachesis pulcher (Boulenger, 1896), Bothrops pulchra (Amaral, 1923), and Bothrops pulcher (J.Peters and Orejas-Miranda, 1970). Campbell and Lamar (1992) considered Bothrops campbelli to be a junior synonym of Bothrops pulcher, but their concept of latter taxon was incorrect. Schätti and Kramer (1993) argued that Bothrops campbelli (Freire-Lascano, 1991) was a nomen invalidum and suggested a new name, Porthidium almawebi, as a replacement. However, it is clear that Freire-Lascano's (1991) name is valid and has priority over the one proposed by Schätti and Kramer (1993).
Gutberlet and Campbell (2001) moved this taxon to a new genus: Bothrocophias (toadheaded pitvipers).