''Bothriechis nigroviridis'' is a

pit viper The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers,Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . or pit adders, are a subfamily (biology), subfamily of Viperidae, vipers found in Asia and the ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

found in the mountains of

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. No

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are currently recognized. The specific name is derived from the Latin ''niger'' (black) and ''viridis'' (green) in reference to its distinctive color pattern.

Common names

Black-speckled palm-pit viper,Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. . speckled palm viper,Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . black-spotted palm viper, yellow-spotted palm viper.U.S. Navy. 1991. Poisonous Snakes of the World. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. .

Description

Adults may exceed , although most are less than in length. They are relatively slender and have a prehensile tail. Two exceptionally large females were reported by Hammack and Antonio (1991) that measured and . Bothriechis nigroviridis 351398130

The color pattern usually consists of an emerald green (rarely yellowish green) ground color with strong black mottling. There may also be pale green dorsal blotches that have black edges. The belly is yellowish green and lightly mottled with black. The head is heavily mottled with black on top, often with black parietal stripes. There is also a clearly defined postocular stripe running back towards the angle of the jaw. The iris is heavily stippled and appears almost black. The tongue is also black. Juveniles have a similar color pattern, although it is more pale and the tip of the tail is black.

Geographic range

Found in the mountains of

and

. Also found in the cloud forests of the

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

and the

Cordillera de Talamanca The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies in the southeast half of Costa Rica and the far west of Panama. Much of the range and the area around it is included in La Amistad International Park, which also is shared between the two ...

at 1,150–2,400 m altitude. The type locality given is "Vulcan von Barbo" (Volcán Barba, Costa Rica). According to Campbell and Lamar (2004), this species prefers medium to high elevations from 1,150 to over 3,000 m, and is found from the Cordillera Tilarán and Cordillera Central in the southeastern

Alajuela Alajuela () is a district in the Alajuela (canton), Alajuela canton of the Alajuela Province of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Alajuela canton, it is awarded the status of city. By virtue of being the city of the first canton of ...

province in Costa Rica, southeast through the Cordillera de Talamanca to Chiriquí province in

. It occurs on both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes.

Habitat

This species inhabits high

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

and lower montane wet forest and cloud forest. It has a limited range and is generally considered relatively rare, even though it is locally common in habitat that has not been disturbed. However, Picado (1931) mentioned that they soon disappear from cultivated areas.

Venom

Fatalities have been reported, with the bite symptoms including intense pain, nausea and

asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q839883 nigroviridis Snakes of Central America Reptiles of Costa Rica Reptiles of Panama Reptiles described in 1859 Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters