Bothrops atroxBarba Amarilla, Fer-de-Lance, common lancehead

Geographic Range

The common lancehead (also called "fer de lance") is found in the tropical regions throughout Central and South America. There it is quite common in both wooded and open areas (Mattison, 1986).

Biogeographic Regionsnearctic  native 

Habitat

The common lancehead is found throughout the forests of Central and South America. However, it has also been known to invade plantations in search of rodent prey (Phelps, 1981).

Physical Description

The common lancehead has many distinct features of the Viperidae family. The color of this snake can take on many shades for camouflage. It can be gray, brown, olive, or green. This snake also has large, dark, pale, margined triangles with points that meet on the dorsal line. The head is triangular (lance-shaped) and pointed. The common lancehead can grow up to 6.5 feet in length (Phelp, 1981).

Reproduction

The lancehead gives birth to live young. The litters can contain up to 80 babies that are about one foot long. They are born with venom glands and are still dangerous (Carnley, 1996).

Lifespan/Longevity

Average lifespan
Status: captivity8.5 yearsAnAge

Behavior

The lancehead is a hunter that relies on its camouflage to attack prey. The skin color blends in perfectly with the surroundings. Using the pit organs, it can deduce the position of its prey. This snake has also been known to be very aggressive. Conflicts with people have occurred due to its habit of lying in walking trails in wait of prey as well as invading plantations in search of rodent prey (Mattison, 1986).

Food Habits

When young, these snakes feed on lizards and arthropods. The food habits of the adult snake consist of mainly small mammals, which include opossums, birds, lizards, and smaller snakes (Carnley, 1996) To detect their warm blooded prey, these snakes rely on their pit organ located between the eye and nostril. This organ relays thermal information to the snake about the position of their prey (Encarta, 1999).

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Common lanceheads have economic importance in the production of anti-venom to treat bites. They also control populations of rodents, which are important crop pests. (Phelps, 1981)

Positive Impactssource of medicine or drug research and education controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Locals fear Bothrop atrox because of its aggressive reputation and venomous bite. Overall, it is responsible for the majority of venomous snakebites within its forest range. The problem lies in the tendencies of the snake's prey to exploit agricultural land. The common lancehead is a primary concern for plantation and agricultural workers.(Mattison, 1986).

Conservation Status

Bothrops atrox is a quite common snake throughout forested and agricultural land (Phelps, 1981).

Rattlesnake

The only snake from the Americas on the list, the Rattlesnake is easily identifiable by the tell tale rattle on the end of its tail. They are actually a part of the Pit Viper family, and are capable of striking at up to 2/3rd their body length. The Eastern Diamondback in considered the most venomous species in North America. Surprisingly, juveniles are considered more dangerous than adults, due to their inability to control the amount of venom injected. Most species of rattlesnakes have hemotoxic venom, destroying tissue, degenerating organs and causing coagulopathy (disrupted blood clotting). Some degree of permanent scarring is very likely in the event of a venomous bite, even with prompt, effective treatment, and can lead to the loss of a limb or death. Difficulty breathing, paralysis, drooling and massive hemorrhaging are also common symptoms. Thus, a rattlesnake bite is always a potentially fatal injury. Untreated rattlesnake bites, especially from larger species, are very often fatal. However, antivenin, when applied in time, reduces the death rate to less than 4%

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REPTILES - RED BELLIED BLACK SNAKE

The venomous Red-Bellied Black Snake grows to lengths of up to two metres long, and has striking colouration. With stunning red edges to its belly scales and a shiny black back, this snake surely ranks amongst Australia's most stunning venomous snakes. The Red-Bellied Black snake is most active during the day, although they may also be seen on hotter evenings.

Habitat

The Red-Bellied Black Snake can be found inhabiting most forest types near permanent watercourses or swamps in eastern and south-east Australia.

Diet

The Red-Bellied Black Snake's diet consists of frogs, other reptiles and mammals. Usually seen around cool, wet areas the Red-Bellied Black Snake is particularly fond of frogs, making the Cane Toad a big problem. If they even bite a Cane Toad its all over. It's hard to believe that this beautiful snake could suffer so badly as the result of the introduction of one alien species.

Breeding

Mating occurs in spring with combat between rival males occurring in this period. During combat, the snakes bodies are intertwined with their heads raised. They do this in attempt to place their head higher than that of their opponent. When pregnant, female Red-Bellied Black snakes are known to aggregate and bask in the sun together. January to March is when between five and forty young are born in membranous sacs from which they emerge from shortly after birth.

Status

Local populations were almost driven to extinction by the introduction of the Cane Toad. If a snake tries to consume a toad, they will fall victim to the toad’s poisonous gland secretions. It does however appear now that some of these snakes are finally learning to avoid the Cane Toad and their numbers are beginning to recover.

Golden lancehead

The Golden lancehead (Bothrops insularis) is a highly venomous pit viper species endemic to the Queimada Grande island or as it's known in colloquial English "Snake Island". ​

The island is located about 40 miles off the coast of Sao Paulo state, in Brazil and it's size is roughly around 110 acres. ​

 also uninhabited and travel to the island is forbidden by the Brazilian navy, and there is a good reason, it is home to hundreds of thousands of venomous golden lancehead snakes.

The island is a subtropical or tropical moist forest containing several different types of habitats including forest, clearings, and shrubs. The climate is very mild, and the temperatures never fall below 64ºF (18ºC), or over 72ºF (22ºC). 

They can usually be found seeking shelter among leaf litter or in rock crevices, especially during unfavorable weather or after having just ingested a prey. But are also found in the trees hunting for prey. The golden lancehead grows to an average length of 28 inches (70 cm) but it's known to reach 46 inches (118 cm) in maximum length.

The snake's color pattern consists of a series of triangular or quadrangular blotches, that may be broader or narrow, and alternating or opposite along the back overlaid in a pale yellowish brown ground color. The belly is a uniform pale cream or yellow, and they lack a well-defined post-orbital stripe. When in captivity, their yellowish color often becomes darker

Their common name "lancehead" refers to the distinctive head shape of all Bothrops genus snakes, which is elongated and comes to a point at the nose.

The golden lancehead has a longer tail than the Jararaca, its closest relative, which probably an adaptation to help them maneuver through the trees found in the island.

Venom / Bite

Since the golden lancehead only inhabits an area uninhabited by humans, there has never been a recorded bite by one, but other lancehead species are responsible for more human deaths than any other snakes in both North and South America.

The chemical analysis of their venom suggests that it's 5 times more potent than that of their cousin the jararaca, and is also the fastest acting venom in their genus. The mortality rate for other lancehead species envenomations is around 7%, if the victim doesn't receive medical treatment, but even if the patient receives treatment the bite is fatal on 3% of the cases. 

The effects of lancehead venom include local pain and swelling, nausea and vomiting, blood blisters, bruising, blood in the vomit and urine, intestinal bleeding, kidney failure, brain hemorrhage and severe necrosis of muscular tissue.

Lancehead snakes have an hemotoxic venom that eats away at flesh and tissue to help digest the prey before they swallow it, but the golden lancehead also has some neurotoxic components in their venom to help killing the prey.

Diet / Feeding

Their diet consists mostly of perching birds, but they have been reported to eat lizards or even resort to cannibalism. The newborn and juvenile snakes prey mainly upon invertebrates. Because there are no mammals native to the island Queimada Grande, this has undoubtedly had a profound impact on their evolution.

Reproduction

The golden lancehead mating season occurs during August and September, and these vipers are known to mate using both the ground or trees. Like most other viper species, the golden lancehead gives birth to live young.

The average litter size around 7 newborns, and there is no recorded data about their size at birth, but one would expect it be similar to that of the Jararaca (about 10 inches).

Conservation / Threats

In the IUCN Red List the golden lance head is classified as critically endangered, this is due to several factors, but the main threat to the species is the habitat destruction. In the past, fires were deliberately started on the island in an attempt to eradicate the snakes so it could be used for agriculture.

To maintain the lighthouse on the island, the Brazilian Navy has also contributed to habitat destruction by the removal of vegetation. The species was also plagued by over harvesting from scientists.

The island of Queimada Grande is the only place in which these snakes are found in the wild, but it can only support a limited snake population due to its small size of only 43 hectares.

This also leads to a large amount of inbreeding within the population and the occurrence of "intersexes" (specimens born with both male and female reproductive parts) this is harmful because most of the intersexes are born sterile

Did You Know?

The australian inland taipan  bite contains venom enough to kill up to 100 full grown men. 

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae
Genus: Bothrops
Species: B. insularis