''Mixcoatlus browni'' (commonly known as Brown's montane pit viper, sometimes Mexican montane pitviper) is a species of

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. . crotaline snakes (from grc, κρόταλον ''krotalon'' castanet), or pit adders, are a subfa ...

found at high elevations in

Guerrero, Mexico Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...

. This species was previously placed in the genus '' Agkistrodon'', where it was considered to be a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

of '' Cerrophidion barbouri''. Molecular evidence has since demonstrated that ''M. browni'' is a distinct species and the genus name was subsequently changed. The genus ''Mixcoatlus'' is derived from the

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...

word '' Mixcoatl'' or "cloud serpent", a deity of the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

and several other

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

civilizations. This name also refers to the geographic restriction of this clade to elevations above .

Description

Not much is known about this species. This species is diurnal and it is usually found basking or moving throughout the day. This species has been seen by researchers to have more of a

prehensile Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ (anatomy), organ that has Adaptation (biology), adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely der ...

tail than other species in this genus. There is currently no evidence to suggest that ''M. browni'' is arboreal, although it does climb low vegetation.

Geographic range

''Mixcoatlus browni'' is constricted to the

cloud forests A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud ...

of western

Sierra Madre del Sur The Sierra Madre del Sur is a mountain range in southern Mexico, extending from southern Michoacán east through Guerrero, to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca. Geography The Sierra Madre del Sur joins with the Eje Volcánico Transv ...

in Guerrero, Mexico. They been recorded at elevations up to above sea level.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3317265 Crotalinae Reptiles described in 1938 Snakes of North America Endemic reptiles of Mexico Fauna of the Sierra Madre del Sur Taxa named by Benjamin Shreve