Porthidium

Porthidium
Porthidium nasutum,
rainforest hognose pitviper
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae
Genus: Porthidium
Cope, 1871[1]
Common names: hognose pit vipers[2]

Porthidium is a genus of pit vipers found in Mexico and southward to northern South America.[1] The name is derived from the Greek word portheo and the suffix -idus, which mean "destroy" and "having the nature of", apparently a reference to the venom.[2] As of August 2016 nine species are recognized as being valid.[3] The snakes of the genus Hypnale in southern India and Sri Lanka look quite similar to those of this genus, possibly an example of convergent evolution.

  1. ^ a b McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. ^ a b Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. 870 pp., 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
  3. ^ "Porthidium ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 4 November 2006.