Cerrophidion sasai JADIN, TOWNSEND, CASTOE & CAMPBELL, 2012
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Cerrophidion sasai
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| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Costa Rica Montane Pitviper |
| Synonym | Cerrophidion sasai JADIN, TOWNSEND, CASTOE & CAMPBELL 2012 Cerrophidion sasai — WALLACH et al. 2014: 156 |
| Distribution | Costa Rica, W Panama Type locality: San Ramos de Tres Ríos, Departamento de San Jose, Costa Rica. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: UTA R-51399, Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center, University of Texas at Arlington; an adult male, collected on 8 November 2001 by M. Sasa. |
| Diagnosis | Synonymy: this species has been previously considered as C. godmani. Definition and diagnosis. Similar to all other Cerrophidion species, C. sasai is a medium-sized, blotched terrestrial pitvi- per; head relatively long; distinct and raised canthal ridge, typically two canthals; a large, median frontal plate occupy- ing between 53% and 90% (x = 63.53%) of the distance between the supraoculars; broad supraoculars; nasal divided; prefoveals 0–3; prelacunal single; lacunolabials absent; loreal single; subfoveals 0–2; three preoculars; supralabials 8–10, typically 9 or 10; infralabials 9–12, typically 10 or 11; ventrals 134–146 (x = 138.89), undivided subcaudals 25–34 (x = 29.62) with no significant sexual dimorphism; cloacal scute undivided; tail relatively short and non-prehensile and typically 21 middorsal scale rows. Cerrophidion sasai averages fewer scales in the frontal region, has fewer prefoveals and tends to have a larger median scale in between the oculars than other Central American Cerrophidion species (Campbell & Solórzano 1992; Jadin 2010) [from JADIN et al. 2012]. |
| Comment | Synonymy: this species has been previously considered as C. godmani. Distribution: see map in JADIN et al. 2012 |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is a patronym recognizing Mahmood Sasa Marín, an accomplished Costa Rican herpetologist. Among his many accolades, he is a recent recipient of Award for Young Scientists in 2009 given by the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) and the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cieníficas y Tecnologicas, Costa Rica (CONICIT). He has also published numerous works on what was then C. godmani in Costa Rica such as variation in allozymes across Costa Rican populations (Sasa 1997), comparative phylogenetic and biogeographic studies of pitvipers in the region (Castoe et al. 2005, 2009) and characterizations of the venom (Durban et al. 2011; Lomonte et al. 2012) [from JADIN et al. 2012]. |
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