The Merendon palm-pitviper (Bothriechis thalassinus) is a venomous

Venomous snake

"Poisonous snake" redirects here. For true poisonous snakes, see Rhabdophis.Venomous snakes are snakes which have venom glands and specialized teeth for the injection of venom...

 pitviper

Crotalinae

The Crotalinae, commonly known as "pit vipers" or crotaline snakes, are a subfamily of venomous vipers found in Asia and the Americas. They are distinguished by the presence of a heat-sensing pit organ located between the eye and the nostril on either side of the head...

 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 found in Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

 and Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

.

Description

This is a medium-sized pitviper with a slender body and strong prehensile tail

Prehensile tail

A prehensile tail is the tail of an animal that has adapted to be able to grasp and/or hold objects. Fully prehensile tails can be used to hold and manipulate objects, and in particular to aid arboreal creatures in finding and eating food in the trees...

. Adults are usually 60-80 cm long, with a maximum recorded length of 97 cm. It has 21-23 dorsal scale rows at mid-body.
The head and body usually have a greenish dorsal color, shading to yellow-greenish along the sides. The belly is generally lighter in color: cream, yellow-green or pale green. The dorsal pattern may have irregular blotches, turquoise to black, or speckling that doesn't reach very far down the sides.
The head has 2 black stripes and black speckling on top, which are less visible towards the tail. Like all other pitvipers, B. thalassinus has heat sensitive organs, or loreal pit

Loreal pit

The Loreal pit is the deep depression, or fossa, in the loreal area on either side of the head in crotaline snakes . It is located behind the nostril and in front of the eye, but below the line that runs between the centers of each. It is the external opening to an extremely sensitive infrared...

s, located on either side of the head between the eye and the nostril.

Geographic range

Its range extends from eastern Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

 to western Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

. In eastern Guatemala it is found found in several mountain ranges, including Sierra de Caral in Izabal

Izabal

Izabal may refer to various locations in Guatemala:* Izabal Department* Lago de Izabal a lake within Izabal department* Izabal a town within Izabal department...

 and the Sierra del Merendón

Sierra del Merendón

Sierra del Merendón is a mountain range extending on the eastern border of Guatemala and Honduras. Its south-western border is marked by the Lempa River valley, its northern border by the Motagua River valley...

 in Zacapa

Zacapa

Zacapa is a city in eastern Guatemala, along the Río Grande de Zacapa. It is renowned locally for its manual crafting of cigars, hard dry cheese and a flavored cake made with said cheese ....

.

Habitat

Occurs in lower montane wet forest and lower montane moist forest at elevations of 885-1,730 m

M

M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water...

.

Behavior

Like other Bothriechis members, this species appears to be mainly nocturnal and arboreal. It preys mostly on frogs, lizards, and sometimes small mammals or birds. B. thalassinus is not known to be an aggressive species, but may strike quickly when surprised or disturbed.

Reproduction

Like most other pitvipers, B. thalassinus is ovoviviparous

Ovoviviparity

Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, or ovivipary, is a mode of reproduction in animals in which embryos develop inside eggs that are retained within the mother's body until they are ready to hatch...

. Average litter size is probably less than 10–12 young per litter.

Venom

The characteristics of its venom are not yet well known. It is mainly hemotoxic, and possibly contains mild neurotoxic or myotoxic

Myotoxin

Myotoxins are small, basic peptides found in snake venoms, such as in that of certain rattlesnakes. This involves a non-enzymatic mechanism that leads to severe muscle necrosis...

factors. Seldom encountered by humans, very few reported bites of humans. Typical envenomation symptoms include local pain, swelling, mild local tissue necrosis, nausea, "tingling" of a digit or limb, & nausea. No confirmed deaths of humans have been reported for this species.