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Bothrops taeniatus WAGLER, 1824

IUCN Red List - Bothrops taeniatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesBothrops taeniatus taeniatus WAGLER 1824
Bothrops taeniatus lichenosus (ROZE 1958) 
Common NamesE: Speckled Forest Pit Viper
Portuguese: Comboia, Japoboia, Jararaca-Amarela, Jararaca-Cinza, Jararaca-Cinzenta, Jararaca-Estrela, Jararaca-Musgo, Jararaca-Tigrina, Jararaquinha 
SynonymBothrops taeniatus WAGLER 1824: 55
Bothriopsis quadriscutatus PETERS 1861
Bothriopsis taeniata — CAMPBELL & LAMAR 1989: 178
Bothriechis taeniatus — SCHÄTTI & KRAMER 1991: 9
Bothriopsis taeniata — WELCH 1994: 31
Bothrops taeniatus — STARACE 1998: 384
Bothriopsis taeniata — PARKINSON 1999
Bothriopsis taeniata — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 251
Bothriopsis taeniata — HARVEY 2005: 9
Bothrops taeniatus — CLAESSEN 2006
Bothrops taeniatus — MONZEL & WÜSTER 2008
Bothriopsis taeniata — FENWICK et al. 2009
Bothrops taeniata — CARRASCO et al. 2012
Bothriopsis taeniata — COLE et al. 2013
Bothriopsis taeniata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 110
Bothrops taeniatus — NATERA-MUMAW et al. 2015
Bothrops taeniata — PONTES-NOGUEIRA et al. 2021

Bothrops taeniatus lichenosa ROZE 1958
Bothriopsis lichenosa ROZE 1958: 308
Bothrops castelnaudi lichenosus — ROZE 1958
Bothrops taeniatus lichenosus — KORNACKER 1999

Bothrops taeniatus taeniatus (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854)
Bothrops castelnaudi DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 1511
Lachesis castelnaudi — BOULENGER 1896
Lachesis castelnaudi — IHERING 1911: 361
Bothrops lichenosa ROZE 1958
Bothrops castelnaudi — DUELLMAN 1978: 264
Bothrops castelnaudi — TRUTNAU 1987
Bothriopsis taeniata lichenosa — CAMPBELL & LAMAR 1989
Bothrops taeniatus taeniatus — KORNACKER 1999 
DistributionBrazil (Amazonas, Rondonia, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Roraima, Maranhão, Pará, Acre etc.), Colombia, Ecuador [HR 34:263], Peru, Bolivia, French Guiana (as Bothrops castelnaudi fide GASC & RODRIGUES 1980), Guyana (CLAESSEN 2006)

lichenosus: Venezuela; Type locality: Chimantá Tepui, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela.

Type locality: “Habitat ad flumen Amazonum” [= Amazonas, Brazil] [taeniatus].  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesNeotype: MNHN-RA 1582, also holotype of Bothrops castelnaudi (Dumeril, Bibron & Dumeril,1854) designated by Hoogmoed & Gruber (1983). Original Holotype: ZSM, uncatalogued specimens (lost),
Holotype: FMNH 74043 [lichenosus] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Bothriopsis taeniata is distinguished from all congeners and from species of Bothrocophias and Bothrops by the following combination of characters: (1) lacunolabial present; (2) dorsal keels nontuberculate; (3) infralabials and gulars mottled; (4) canthorostrals absent; (5) subcaudals mostly entire (several divided subcaudals present on distal one-third of tail in 70% of specimens we examined; few divided proximal subcaudals present in 20%); (6) ventrals 203–254 and subcaudals 66–91 (Campbell and Lamar 1989); (7) loreal subtriangular; (8) canthals moderate, separated by 2–4 scales in our sample; (9) internasals in contact or separated by a single scale; (10) postocular stripe black, about two temporals high, and often stippled and obscure; (11) dorsum banded and with a lichenose pattern of green, black, and yellow; prominent row of yellow paraventral spots present; venter heavily pigmented posteriorly (Harvey 2005: 9). 
CommentVenomous!

Type species: Bothriopsis quadriscutatus PETERS 1861 is the type species of the genus Bothriopsis PETERS 1861. Note, however, that Bothriopsis has been synonymized with Bothrops by CARRASCO et al. 2012.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “taenia” (or Greek “tainia“, meaning “ribbon” and the Latin suffix -atus (meaning “provided with”), possibly a reference to the slender body of these vipers.

The subspecies epithet, lichenosus, is a Latin adjective (masculine) derived from “lichen” (Latin name for composite organisms made up from symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner algae or cyanobacteria) + -osus (an adjectival suffix meaning “full of”), a clear reference to species general color patters which resemble rocks or trees covered with lichen, a perfect camouflage. 
References
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