Toad-headed bark plains (Bothrocophias) live in remote and hard-to-reach spaces of the South American rainforest, such as the Chocó rainforest in Ecuador, the western lowlands of the Amazon rainforest, the Pacific highlands, and the eastern slopes of the Andes. These venomous snakes are among the most enigmatic and least known South American vipers,” says Juan Pablo Hurtado-Gómez, the newest researcher and PhD student on the study. student. student at the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden.
“The lack of Bothrocophias in clinical collections, as well as the tendency to confuse species of this genus with the more common and widespread members of American vipers (Bothrops), have a particularly confusing taxonomic assessment of this group. “
However, Hurtado-Gómez, together with Colombian colleagues, managed to identify two new species within the genus Bothrocophias. The snakes are local to the highlands of the Colombian Andes and in the past were with the species and genetic analysis, the team has now decided that they constitute two species unknown in the past: Bothrocophias myrringae sp. nov. , and Bothrocophias tulitoi sp. nov.
“The new species differ in a number of external characteristics, such as the arrangement and number of their scales or the color tendency of the body and tail,” adds the Colombian scientist, who works in Dresden.
The two new species were named after Tulio Angarita and Myriam Sierra, who were instrumental in creating a fashionable educational style that is now worn by everyone in Colombia. They are also the parents of the study’s first author, Teddy Angarita Sierra. .
The discovery became imaginable through Colombia’s National Institute of Health (INS), which has made a major effort over the past decade to assemble collections of venomous snakes, adding the newly studied Bothrocophias material. The goal of the initiative is to expand antidotes for the remedy of severe snakebite poisoning.
All species of the genus Bothrocophias studied by Hurtado-Gómez and his team are poisonous. Limited knowledge about the effects of venom in humans ranges from mild presentations with short-term pain and mild inflammation to severe poisonings and remote deaths.
Professor Uwe Fritz, a reptile expert from Senckenberg, explains: “Clarifying the taxonomy of toad-headed vipers has vital implications for the treatment of venomous snakebites in Andean countries. Unfortunately, such injuries are rarely fatal. The first step to treating snakebites well is to identify the snake that caused the poisoning, which facilitates the subsequent preparation and handling of the appropriate antiserum, that is, antivenom.
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