:''Common names: Mexican horned pitvipers.
[Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. .]''
''Ophryacus'' is a
genus of
pit vipers
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 ...
endemic to
Mexico. The name is derived from the
Greek word ''ophrys'' (ὀφρύς), which means "brow", and the
Latin word ''acus'', which means "needle", an allusion to the characteristic horn-like scales over the eyes.
Currently, three
species are recognized and no
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
.
Description
The larger of the two species, ''
O. undulatus'', grows to between in length. They are characterized by the presence of a single scale over the eye that takes the shape of either a long and relatively slender spine, or a flattened horn. Often, other
supraocular scales
In scaled reptiles, supraocular scales are (enlarged) scales on the crown immediately above the eye.Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. ...
are also shaped in such a way that they project slightly.
Geographic range
They are restricted to the mountains of eastern, central and southern Mexico.
Species
T)
Type species.
References
Further reading
*
Cope, E.D. 1887. Catalogue of Batrachians and Reptiles
atrachia and Reptiliaof Central America and Mexico.
Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. 32: 1-98. ("''Ophryacus'' Cope, ''gen. nov.''", p. 88.)
*
O'Shea, M. 2005. Venomous Snakes of the World. Princeton University Press. .
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1926258
Crotalinae
Endemic reptiles of Mexico
Snake genera
Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope