Abstract
We describe a new species of montane pitviper of the genus Bothrops from the Cordillera Oriental of the Central Andes, distributed from southern Peru to central Bolivia. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the characteristic combination of a dorsal body color pattern consisting of triangular or subtriangular dark brown dorsal blotches, paired dark brown parallel occipital stripes, a conspicuous dark brown postocular stripe, the presence of canthorostrals in some specimens, prelacunal fused or partially fused with second supralabial, one scale usually separating internasals, rostral trapezoidal, two canthals oval to rounded, similar size or slightly larger than internasals, three or four medial intercanthals, eight to twelve intersupraoculars, intercanthals and intersupraoculars keeled and frequently slightly keeled, supraoculars oval, one to three suboculars, two to three postoculars, loreal subtriangular, two to six prefoveals, subfoveals absent, two or none postfoveals, one or two scales between suboculars and fourth supralabial, seven or eight supralabials, nine or eleven infralabials, 23-25 middorsal scales, 189-195 ventrals in females and 182-190 in males, 48-58 subcaudals in females and 54-63 in males, exceptionally undivided. The new species is apparently restricted to areas within Andean montane forests that are less humid and devoid of large trees.
Highlights
IntroductionThe clade Bothrops Wagler 1824 sensu lato (or “bothropoids”) is a group of pitvipers that comprises 51 species distributed throughout South America (except for B. asper Garman 1884, which extends through all Central America as far north as Mexico, and B. punctatus García 1896, which enters the eastern side of Panama) and some islands in the Caribbean and Atlantic coast of Brazil (Campbell & Lamar 2004; Uetz & Hošek 2018)
The clade Bothrops Wagler 1824 sensu lato is a group of pitvipers that comprises 51 species distributed throughout South America and some islands in the Caribbean and Atlantic coast of Brazil (Campbell & Lamar 2004; Uetz & Hošek 2018)
Several new pitviper species have been described from South America (Harvey 1994; Ferrarezzi & Freire 2001; Silva & Rodrigues 2008; Barbo et al 2012, 2016; Carrasco et al 2019), and new discoveries seem likely to occur in the Andean Mountain Range (e.g., Esqueda et al 2005; Passos et al 2009; Rojas-Morales 2012)
Summary
The clade Bothrops Wagler 1824 sensu lato (or “bothropoids”) is a group of pitvipers that comprises 51 species distributed throughout South America (except for B. asper Garman 1884, which extends through all Central America as far north as Mexico, and B. punctatus García 1896, which enters the eastern side of Panama) and some islands in the Caribbean and Atlantic coast of Brazil (Campbell & Lamar 2004; Uetz & Hošek 2018). Several new pitviper species have been described from South America (Harvey 1994; Ferrarezzi & Freire 2001; Silva & Rodrigues 2008; Barbo et al 2012, 2016; Carrasco et al 2019), and new discoveries seem likely to occur in the Andean Mountain Range (e.g., Esqueda et al 2005; Passos et al 2009; Rojas-Morales 2012). In such a varied orography, where suitable habitats occur from sea level to well above 3000 m (e.g., Bothrops ammodytoides, B. jonathani, Carrasco et al 2009, 2010), speciation by vicariance processes is most likely to take place
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