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Lachesis muta (LINNAEUS, 1766)

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Serpentes (snakes) 
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: South American Bushmaster
G: Südamerikanischer Buschmeister
Atlantic Forest bushmaster [rhombeata]
NL: Bosmeester 
SynonymCrotalus mutus LINNAEUS 1766: 373
Coluber crotalinus GMELIN 1789: 1094
Scytale catenatus LATREILLE in SONNINI and LATREILLE 1802: 162
Scytale ammodytes LATREILLE in SONNINI and LATREILLE 1802: 165
Coluber alecto SHAW 1802: 405
Lachesis mutus — DAUDIN 1803: 351
Lachesis ater — DAUDIN 1803: 354
Trigonocephalus ammodytes — OPPEL 1811: 390
Cophias crotalinus — MERREM 1820: 144
Trigonocephalus crotalinus — SCHINZ 1822: 144
Lachesis muta — SCHINZ 1822: 144
Lachesis atra — SCHINZ 1822: 144
Scytale catenata — SCHINZ 1822: 144
Bothrops Surucucu WAGLER 1824: 59
Lachesis rhombeata WIED 1824
Crasedocephalus crotalinus — GRAY 1825: 205
Lachesis mutus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1485
Trigonocephalus (Lachoesis) brasiliensis LIAIS 1872: 306
Trigonocephalus rhumbeatus — LIAIS 1872: 306
Lachoesis rhumbeata — LIAIS 1872: 306
Lachesis muta — HARDING & WELCH 1980
Lachesis muta — VILLA et al. 1988
Lachesis mutus — BOULENGER 1896: 534
Lachesis muta muta — TAYLOR 1951: 184
Lachesis muta noctivaga HOGE 1966
Lachesis muta muta — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 136
Lachesis muta muta — DUELLMAN 1978: 265
Lachesis muta rhombeata — HOGE & ROMANO 1978: 54
Lachesis muta — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 312
Lachesis muta — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999 
DistributionColombia, E Ecuador, Brazil (Minas Gerais, Acre, Amapéa, amazonas, Pará, Rondonia, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Alagoas, Ceará, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro), Venezuela, Surinam, French Guiana, Guyana, Trinidad, NE/E Peru, N Bolivia

rhombeata: Brazil (Alagoas, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Ceará; Espirito Santo, Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais State, Bahia, Alagoas, Sergipe, Pernambuco, Paraiba, Rio Grande do Norte (CAMPBELL & LAMAR 2004, Rodrigo C.G de Souza, pers. comm.).

Type locality: Surinam; restricted to Vitória, ES, Brazil, by FERNANDES et al. 2004. Map legend:
TDWG region - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.

NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and this does not always work properly. We are working on it.
 
Types 
CommentVenomous! Lachesis muta has been split into three separate species by Zamudio & Greene 1997. Synonymy mainly after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970 and FERNANDES et al. (2004), who reject any subspecies in L. muta.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from L. stenophrys and L. melanocephala by having more ventral scales (215–234 in females and 213– 236 in males), compared to 197–211 in females and 198–204 in males of L. stenophrys and 211–214 in females and 209–214 in males of L. melanocephala. Additionally, the head of L. muta is not uniformly black as in L. melanocephala, but has dark blotches over much of its surface; the head of L. stenophrys is nearly immaculate. The dorsal blotches in Lachesis muta do not form vertical bars laterally as in L. stenophrys and L. melanocephala.

Type species: Lachesis mutus is the type species of the genus Lachesis DAUDIN 1803.

Diagnosis (genus): The only oviparous New World crotaline genus. Dorsal scales verrucate, parietals tuberculate, hemipenes with more than 70 spines per lobe, and twice-divided distal subcaudals.

The diagnostic external morphological features of the genus include tuberculate, almost pyramidal dorsal scales and the twice-divided distal subcaudal scales (Campbell and Lamar 1989).

Reproduction: oviparous

Type: unknown fide PETERS 1960. 
References
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  • Borges-Nojosa,D.M. & Lima-Verde,J.S. 1999. Geographic distribution: Lachesis muta rhombeata. Herpetological Review 30 (4): 235
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