Bothrops pulcher (Peters, 1863)

Camper, Jeffrey D., Torres-Carvajal, Omar, Ron, Santiago R., Nilsson, Jonas, Arteaga, Alejandro, Knowles, Travis W. & Arbogast, Brian S., 2021, Amphibians and reptiles of Wildsumaco Wildlife Sanctuary, Napo Province, Ecuador, Check List 17 (3), pp. 729-751 : 747

Bothrops pulcher (Peters, 1863)

Figure 5A, B

Material examined. ECUADOR • 1 adult; Napo Prov- ince, WWS; 18 Nov. 2009; photograph • 1 adult; Napo Province, WWS; 10 Dec. 2017; photograph .

Identification. Pit-vipers have triangular heads and one pair of heat sensing pits located between the nostrils and eyes. This species has a black stripe on each side of the face which runs from the eye to the corner of the mouth. There is also a pair of wavy black stripes on top of the head. The dorsal pattern consists of up to 29 dark bands outlined with cream ( Campbell and Lamar 2004). The scales between the bands may be greenish gray to pink- ish. The second supralabial contacts the prelacunal scale. Midbody dorsal scale rows are usually 21 but they range from 19–23. The ventral scales number 167–178 in males and 173–181 in females. The subcaudal scales are usually uniformly dark and are 63–64 in males and 53–60 in fe- males, with some distal subcaudals undivided. The tail is prehensile.

Remarks. Some specimens observed at WWS have a pinkish caste in the light areas between the dark bands ( Fig. 5B). Other specimens lack this pink pigment as shown in Figure 5A.