Mexican Jumping Pitviper

Description:

First we thought it was a Bushmaster...no such luck, but still pretty awesome! Atropoides nummifer is a venomous pitviper species found in Mexico and Central America. Currently, 3 subspecies are recognized. Adults are short and exceedingly stout, commonly growing to 18-24 inches (46-61 cm) in length. The snout is rounded with a sharp canthus. At midbody there are 23-27 rows of dorsal scales that are strongly keeled, tubercular in large specimens. The ventral scales are 121-135, while the subcaudals are 26-36 and mostly single. The eye is separated from the labial scales by 3-4 rows of small scales. The color pattern consists of a tan, light brown or gray ground color that is overlaid with a series of around 20 dark brown or black rhomboid blotches. The lower tips of these blotches often connect with spots on the flanks to form narrow crossbands. The top of the head is dark with oblique postorbital stripes, below which the side of the head is a lighter color. The belly is whitish, occasionally with dark brown blotches. These snakes have sometimes been mistaken for young bushmasters (Lachesis muta), but can easily be identified by their lack of a specialized tail tip. This species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (v3.1, 2001).

Habitat:

Found in eastern Mexico from San Luis Potosí southeastward on the Atlantic versant and lowlands through northern Guatemala, southern Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica to central Panama. On the Pacific versant in disjunct populations from southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama. Found in various types of forest, including cloud forest and rain forest at 40-1600 m altitude. The type originally lacked locality information, but apparently "Mexico" was filled in some time later. A restriction to Teapa, Tabasco, Mexico, was proposed by Burger (1950).