Bothrops oligolepis (WERNER, 1901)
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Bothrops oligolepis
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| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Inca Forest Pit Viper (oligolepis) E: Peru Forest Pit Viper (peruviana) |
| Synonym | Lachesis bilineatus var. oligolepis WERNER 1901: 13 Lachesis peruvianus BOULENGER 1903: 354 Lachesis peruvianus — WERNER 1927: 256 Bothrops peruviana — AMARAL 1929: 240 Bothrops peruvianus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 53 Bothrops oligolepis — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 53 Bothriechis oligolepis — SCHÄTTI, KRAMER & TOUZET 1990: 877 Bothriopsis oligolepis — WELCH 1994: 31 Bothriopsis peruviana — WELCH 1994: 31 Bothriopsis peruviana — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 249 Bothriopsis oligolepis — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 249 Bothrops oligolepis— WÜSTER et al. 2002 Bothriopsis oligolepis — FENWICK et al. 2009 Bothrops oligolepis — CARRASCO et al. 2012 Bothriopsis oligolepis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 110 |
| Distribution | Peru (eastern versant of the Andes, Cordillera Central), Bolivia (eastern versant of the Andes); Type locality: Bolivia peruviana: SE Peru (Cordillera de Carabaya, N Puno); Type locality: La Oroya and Carabaya, southeastern Peru |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: MTD (= MTKD) 1714 M. Dr.” (presumably Konigl. Zoologisches Museum Dresden), as cited in the original description. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Bothriopsis oligolepis 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 immaculate in adults; (4) canthorostrals absent; (5) subcaudals divided or with few entire subcaudals anteriorly; (6) ventrals 189–193 and subcaudals 54–65 (Campbell and Lamar, 1989, report 188–196 ventrals and 53–66 subcaudals for this species); (7) loreal subtriangular; (8) canthals narrow; (9) internasals in contact; (10) postocular stripe black and 2–3 temporals high; (11) dorsum bright green with black and yellow bands, each about one dorsal long; dorsal surface of head green with few black and yellow blotches (Harvey 2005: 6). Additional details (1212 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Venomous! Bothrops albocarinatus is considered as a subspecies of Bothriechis (Bothrops) oligolepis by SCHÄTTI & KRAMER 1993. The same authors consider Bothriechis oligolepis as a senior synonym of Lachesis peruvianus Boulenger 1903, a notion that was confirmed by HARVEY et al. (2005). Synonymy partly after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
| Etymology | Named after Greek oligos (ὀλίγος), little, small, insignificant + Greek lepis (λεπίς), scale. [“...Von dieser Art liegt mir ein Exemplar (D 1714 M. Dr.) aus Bolivien vor. das sich durch die auffallend niedrige Zahl der Schuppenreihen auszeichnet...“]. (from Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., May 2024) |
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