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Ophryacus



Ophryacus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae
Genus: Ophryacus
Cope, 1887
Synonyms
  • Ophryacus - Cope, 1887[1]
Common names: Mexican horned pitvipers.[2]

Ophryacus is a genus of venomous pitvipers endemic to Mexico. The name is derived from the Greek words ophrys and the suffix -acutus, which means "brow" and "belonging to"; an allusion to the characteristic hornlike scales over the eyes.[2] Currently two species are recognized and no subspecies.[3]

Contents

Description

The largest of the two species, O. undulatus, grows to between 55 and 70 cm in length. They are characterized by the presence of a single scale over they eye that takes the shape of either a long and relatively slender spine, or a flattened horn. Often, other supraocular scales are also shaped in such a way that they project slightly.[2]

Geographic range

Restricted to the mountains of central and southern Mexico.[1]

Species

Species[3] Authority[3] Common name[2] Geographic range[1]
O. melanurus (Müller, 1924) Black-tailed horned pitviper The mountains of southern Mexico (southern Puebla and Oaxaca at elevations of 1600-2400 m.
O. undulatusT (Jan, 1859) Mexican horned pitviper The mountains of central and southern Mexico (Hidalgo, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Guerrero) west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec at evelevations of 1800-2800 m.

T) Type species.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. ^ a b c d Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
  3. ^ a b c Ophryacus (TSN 585665). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 4 November 2006.

Further reading

  • O'Shea, M. 2005. Venomous Snakes of the World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-12436-1.
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ophryacus". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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