Guatemalan palm-pitviper, Bothriechis bicolor

Guatemalan palm-pitviper, Bothriechis bicolor, .

Distribution, southern Mexico and Guatemala occupies moderate and intermediate elevations along the Pacific versant of the southern volcanic cordillera of Guatemala from the Volcan de Agua westward to Cerro Ovado in Southeastern Chiapas, Mexico, vertical distribution ranges 500-2000m.

Habitat , Lower montane wet forest and lower montane moist forest.

Similar Species, Bothriechis bicolor, can be distinguished from Bothriechis marchi by it's numerous small, keeled intrasupraocularis.ref ( Campbell et al.)



Log in to view larger images of Bothriechis bicolor, Brook Berntson , South Texas,.

nueva para la ciencia?

Hasn't this species been described by BOCOURT already in 1868 as Bothrops bicolor?

These are the differences between the three species


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Bothriechis bicolor Guatemala  Bothriechis ornatus México

Hmmm... I have to agree with Peter, I don´t see any significant difference in the head scalation of Bothriechis bicolor and "Bothriechis ornatus". Reptile-database.org name B. ornatus as a synonym of B. bicolor.

Best regards

Frank

The description of Bothrops/Bothriechis "ornatus" by Julia & Varela (Bothrops in title, Bothriechis in text) is not a valid publication under the rules of the ICZN code.
It depends on one single specimen, no holotype is given, and according to Campbell & Lamar the morphology of the described specimen is within the known range of variation of Bothriechis bicolor.

For years The Meredon Palm-Pit viper , Bothriechis thalassinus found in Guatemala was stubornly described as Bothriechis bicolor, known since at least 1959.

Bothriechis guiafarroi of Honduras was suffering the same consequence , hence was described as Bothriechis marchi by the above named authors.

The difference in scalation in these above mentioned speciemen are less then that of Ornatus /Bicolor.

Perhaps Bothriechis ornatus will be once again described as another relic specimen, to me the difference are very clear and are two different and distinct " Life observation's".

For years The Meredon Palm-Pit viper , Bothriechis thalassinus found in Guatemala was stubornly described as Bothriechis bicolor, known since at least 1959. wrote:

It's been confused or not recognized as a own species (by Meyer & Wilson 1971 and Campbell & Lamar 1989), not described as Bothriechis bicolor.
Bothriechis thalassinus, the Merendon Palm Pitviper, has been described by Campbell and Lamar in 2000.

Bothriechis guiafarroi of Honduras was suffering the same consequence , hence was described as Bothriechis marchi by the above named authors. wrote:

guiafarroi does not exist in zoological nomenclature, so what?

Perhaps Bothriechis ornatus will be once again described as another relic specimen wrote:

How could it be described once again, it hasn't been described yet?

It's an old story, there have been and ever will be people who see more or less differences than taxonomists dealing with that stuff. And we all know that opinions by hobby herpetologists do often depend more on personal preferences than evidence.....

The long, never ending way to more truth needs changings, we should accept this. And we should trust the taxonomists, most of'em are doing excellent jobs - and trusting them should include the acceptance of the "standings at the moment".
Taxonomy is not a musical request programme for hobby herpetologists.

Oh i see so you beliieve that Dr. Manuel Varela -Julia is a hobbyist ? Bothriechis ornatus.



Bothriechis guiafarro^ a b c d e Townsend, J.; Medina-Flores, M.; Wilson, L.; Jadin, R.; Austin, J. (2013). "A relict lineage and new species of green palm-pitviper (Squamata, Viperidae, Bothriechis) from the Chortís Highlands of Mesoamerica". ZooKeys 298: 77. doi:10.3897/zookeys.298.4834.

As perhaps these other's ...ok , please continue , that's very interesting.

Bothriechis guifarroi, not guiafarro or guiafarroi.
Searching the net with names wrongly spelled by you resulted in no match....
Quite new publication, found it on Zookeys free to download, nice read....thanks for posting it.
and here's the link:
http://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeys/article/4834/a-relict-lineage-and-new-species-of-green-palm-pitviper-squamata-viperidae-bothriechis-from-the-chort%C3%ADs-highlands-of-me

Doesn't change anything concerning Bothriechis "ornatus". Still not a valid description, at least according to Campbell & Lamar.
Would be interesting to read it - do you have a full pdf?

Peter, on many of these specie the taxonomic "hair splitting "is less than the difference between a human and an ape...i would not want the job of a taxonomist.

Tought this was of interest.

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog/2013/06/20/venomous-reptiles-newly-discovered-viper-is-an-endangered-species/

Manuel,

What a beautiful photo of an ornatus (or is it a bicolor?) Minor differences in scalation, hemipenes, mitochondrial dna, or other variables make systematics an ever changing and alive endeavor. I am sure that new montane Bothriechis species will be described in the not-too-distant future that were previously lumped together with other species.

Michael

At times it's in asking the right question and / phrase in perspective as in the case of this specimen ,the problem lies in location , B. ornatus Julia-Zertuche and Varela-j. 1978 Mem Congr. Nac. Zool. Chaping. Mexico. Holotype, no number given. Type locality relates to a specimen from La Colonia Ejidal Morelos, Mpio. de Huixtala Mex.. . . y unos 500 m. de altitud aprx . i believe Alvarez del Toro is in error by placing this specimen in synonymy with bicolor and not going for full speciation.

In my pers.observation's i found B.bicolor? at lower elevations as you are crossing from Guatemala into Mexico on the outskirts of Chiapas, Mexico it most definetly lies elsewhere but my resources could go that far alone. The ones found in near Volcan de Agua , Guatemala dont even remotely come close the the specimen demonstrated by Varela-Julia in the above caption .

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View of the Sierra Madre De Chiapas home of the B. Ornatus







I'll send those photos of more Bothriechis ornatus

Nice photographs of a beautiful species!

Michael

Michael thank you very much!

Manuel

Nice pictures and nice snakes indeed, but i would be more interested in the paper dealing with that description of Bothriechis "ornatus".
Could anyone of the gents defending this "species" post the paper here, or a link to a full pdf?
Thank you, and best regards
Peter

No 'defense', but merely allowing the possibility of 'ornatus' as a species, especially since the genus is poorly understood and has expanded as of recent. New species of Bothriechis (that were previously lumped together with other species) have been recently separated and described suggesting that other new species will inevitably also be described once enough material is accumulated and studied from these semi-isolated and poorly known montane locations.

Regardless, Manuel's photographs are of a very beautiful specimen. Here is a photograph of a supposed B. bicolor that was taken last month in a private collection (no collection data available). Quite a plain looking snake by comparison.

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Manuel,

If I am correct in assuming you coauthored the 1978 description of Bothriechis ornatus , how many specimens have you been able to obtain or observe since then? Do they all have the same ‘ornate’ coloration and markings?

Regards,

Michael

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines , Word-smith , as a person who works with words, esp: a skillfull writer --- Word-smithery, and this is exactly what was transpiring during the description of Bothriechis bicolor as it was known during the term , that The Venomous Reptiles of The Western Hemisphere was published.

Example a. pg. 296-297 fig.95 Bothriechis aurifer, Simillar species , Bothriechis bicolor lacks dark postocular stripes and dorsal pattern,.

Example b.pg.299 , Description for Bothriechis ornatus, Owing to the scarcity of the publication in which the description appeared, we translate it here : " The only speciemen-s ? that we have is green with blue spots over the entire body, with a prehensile tail and blunt snout, with a uniformly green venter and a lemmon yellow gular region, supraoculars very small and flat, seperated by 8 scales, without elegonate lateral scales; with keeled cephalic scales and 21 dorsal scales midbody, 175 and 72 subcaudals.

-> This descrpition does not differ in any significant way from the range of variation ? known for B.bicolor.

i have never observed a Bothriechis bicolor in any collection live or preserved from other than the Chiapan range to appear as the one in the top caption {MVJ.}, but many from other locations have turned out to be Bothriechis thalassinus , eg. as on The cover of Wilsons book The Snakes of Honduras.

im thinking the times have changed in taxonomy as has the technology, at the present time in the pdf. that Peter Zurcher, annot. it tells of 3-4 more upcoming descriptions of Bothriechis to be published in the same general area ( Honduras) and much less than 1000 square miles of Bothriechis guifarroi.

One positive outcome is that this specimen Bothriechis ornatus , has been redflagged or brought to the light for further studies by present, future workers in this field, as it seems not to be resolved at the moment.

Obs. in the PDF. zookeys on Bothriechis guifarroi vs B. marchi, but who was actually more of a Bothriechis lateralis , it keys out to be less than what i have read and tried to print for Bothriechis bicolor vs. Bothriechis ornatus....perhaps as Prof. R. Micheal Burger and Peter Zurcher stated someone can help shed further light on this situation.

* special thanks to Manuel Julia- Varela for his excellent contribution to this article.