544.1 RE-. RE-. : SERPENTES: MARCHI Catalogue of American Amphibians and .

Wison, L.D. and J.R. McCranie. 1992. Botbriecbis marcbi. Botbriecbfs marcbi (Barbour and Loveridge) March's Palm-pitviper

Botbropc nigmviridis marchi Barbour and Loveridge, 1929:l. Type- locality, 'the Gold Mines at Quimistan [probably - El Oro, Mu- nicipio de Quimistan, in the Sierra &I Espiritu Santo to the northwest of the town of Quimistsn], [Departamentodel Santa Barbara, Republic." Holotype, Museum of Compara- tive Zoology at Harvard College (MCZ) 27260, an adult female collected by Douglas March in November 1928 (examined by LDW). Botbtvps nigtvviridis: March, 1929:58. Trimeresums nigmvin'dis marcbi: Clark and Inger, 1942:232. Trimwesums nigmviridis: Pope, 1955:pl. 148. - 0 50 100 150KM Botbriecbis nigmdridis marcbi: Hoge and Romano Hoge, 1983:106. B[otbt%xbis/. aaurier marcbi: Burger, inPErez-Higareda, et al., 1985: Map. Circles indicate acceptable localities. The uncertain type- 104. locality is not indicated. Botbmps marcbi: Wilson and Meyer, 1985:120. Botbriecbis (Botbtvps) marcbi: Mehrtens, 1987:345. Botbriecbis marcbi: Campbell and Lamar, 1989:164. Content. No are recognized.

Dehidon. Botbriecbis marcbi is a medium large (sensu Wison and Meyer, 1985), relatively slender, arboreal, prehewile- tailed pitviper. Total length is known to range to 968 mrn, with specimens stated to "frequently [exceed] 800 mm" (Campbell and Lamar, 1989).Thedorsumofthe body and head inadults isessentially uniform lime green, bluish green, or yellowish green. Some speci- mens appear to have black edging on the scales of the dorsum, although Wilson and Meyer (1985) suggested, based on Campbell's (1982) work. that such is an artifact of a reservation. with the black I coloration df the undersurfaces of tie free edges of the scales showing through. Other specimens possess irregular blue, char- treuse blue, or yellowish green mottlingorspotting onthe dorsum of the body. The venter is uniformly yellow, yellowish green, or bluish green.The irii is yellow to yellowish green. Juveniledorsal coloration is either yellowish green or pale brown, with blue or dark brown blotching, respectively. Scutellation is as follows: 19-21 (mode 19) keeled scale rows at midbody; 156-174 ventrals in males. 157-171 in femalw; 59-69 undivided subcaudals in males, 55-65 in females; 9-12 (mode 10) suoralabials: 1&13 (usually 11 or 12) infralabials: 2

subfoveals;usually 1large (occasionally 2 or more) and 2 (1-4) skll postfoveals; 1-3 (usually 2) suboculars; 1-3 (usually 2) postoculars; bculabial single. The loreal is single. The keeling ofthe scales on the topofthe head isvariable. The internasalsandsupraoculars are never keeled. The canthals are most often not keeled. The intercanthalsand interoculars are not or only lightly keeled. The scales of the parietal region usually are smooth or lightly keeled. All the scales of the temporal region are heavily keeled, except those of the row adjacent to the supralabiils, which may or may not be lightly keeled. The anal plate is single.

Diagnosis. Botbriecbis marcbidiffers from other members of the genus except for B. rauleyi in the following combination of characteristics:supraoculars normal, not extended into soft spine like or hornlike processes; modal number of midbody dorsal scale rows 19; dorsum-without black middorsal markings; venter uniformly colored; no yellow paraventral stripe; iris yellow to yellowish green; interoculars smooth. Data on variation in scutellation and color pattern given by Campbell (1982), Campbell and Lamar (1989), and Crother et al. (1992) show overlap in diagnostic features between B. marcbi and B. ivwIy4*.

Descriptions. The most complete descriptions of the color pattern and scutellation of Botbriecbis marcbi were provided by )(i( Wilson and Meyer (1985) and Campbell and Lamar (1983). Illustrations. Color photographs of B. marcbi are in Campbell and Brodie (1992), Campbell and Lamar (1989), Cruz (1983, Mehrtens (198T), and Wilson and Meyer (1985). Black and Figs. 1-3. USNM 319942 from Quebrada de Oro, Atlintida, Hondu- white photographs are in Barbour and ~oveiid~e(19291, Cochran ras; photographed in August 1989, October 1989, and July 1990. (1943,19441, Ditrnars (1930,1931), and Pope (1944,1955). A photo- graph of the microdermatoglyphic pattern is in Hoge and Romano Qler, Texas. Hoge (1983) and a drawing of the scutellation of the dorsal surface of -and W.W. Lamar. 1989.The venomousreptilesofLatin America. the head is in Crother et al. (1992). Comstock Publ. Assoc., Ithaca, New York. Clark, P.J.and RF. Inger. 1942.Scale reduction studies in certain non- Distribution The is known from montane regions colubrid . Copeia 1942:230-232. in northwestern and north-central Honduras. Many old museum Cochran, D.M. 1943. Poisonous reptilesofthe world: a wartime hand- specimens carry obviously erroneous locality data (e. g., San Pedro book. Smithsonian Inst. War Background Stud. (10):v + 37 p. Sula, Tela), general localities (e. g., CofradQ-Santa Barbara road), or -1944. Dangerous reptiles. Smithsonian AM. Rept. for 1943:275- some that are questionable (e. g., Quimisdn, Santa Barbara [these 324. two, in addition to there being towns of these names at elevations Crother, B.I., JA.Campbell, and D.M. Hillis. 1992. Phylogeny and his- below 250 m, are also municipalities in which suitable montane torical biogeography of the palm-pitvipers, genus Bothriechis: habitat for B. marchi occursn. To compound matters, specimens biochemical and morphological evidence,^. 1-19.InJ.A.Camp without locality data that were apparently purchased from bell and E.D. Brodie, Jr. (eds.), Biology of the pitvipers. Selva, dealers during the 1970's and1980's have ended up in museum vler, Texas. collections, many of which now carry estimated localities (e. g., the Cruz, G.A. 1987. SerpientesvenenosasdeHonduras. EditorialUniver- UTA and KU specimens from CortCs listed by Crother et al., 1992; sitaria, Tegucigalpa. these authors opined that the material actually arose from the Sierra Ditmars, R.L. 1930.The poisonousserpentsoftheNew World. Acom- de Omoa, located to the west [not north and east as stated] of San parative review. Bull. New York 2001. Soc. 337'9-132. Pedro Sula). Based on our field experience, the lowest locality for B. -. 1931. Snakes of the world. The Macmillan Co.,New York. marchiwhich we are able toaccept is La Cumbre, Cones (ca. 500 m) Hoge, A.R. and S.A. Romano Hoge. 1983. Notes on micro and ultra- whereas the species is known to occur as high as 1540 m (El Cusuco, structure of'Oberhautschen" inviperoidea. Mem. Inst. Butantan CortCs). The few specimens we have collected were in the vicinity of 4#45:81-118 (1980/1981). streams in Premontane Wet Forest and Lower Montane Wet Forest Holdridge, L.R. 1967. Life zone ecology. Rev. ed. Trop. Sci. Center, formations of Holdridge (196T). The ecological distribution, thus, is San Joe, Costa Rica. securely understood to include the Premontane Wet Forest and March, D.D.H. 1929. Notes on Bolhrops nigroviridk. Bull. Antivenin Lower Montane Wet Forest formations. Villa (1962) recorded this Inst. Amer. 358. species from Nicaragua, but later (1984) expressed doubt that B. Mehrtens, J.M. 1987. Livingsnakesoftheworld incolor. Sterling Publ. marchi actually occurred in Nicaragua. Until actual Nicaraguan Co., Inc., New York. specimens of B. marchiare available, the species canot be consid- Murphy, J.B. and L.A. Mitchell. 19%. Miscellaneous notes on the re- ered a component of the Nicaraguan herpetofauna. productive biologyof reptiles. 6.Thirteenvarieties oftheGenus BothtDps(Serpentes, Crotalidae). Acta 2001. Pathol.Antverpien- Fossil Record None. sia (78):199-214. PCrez-Higareda, G., H.M. Smith, and J. Julia-Zertuche. 1985. A new Pertinent Literature. Crother et al. (1992) discussed the jumping viper, Potlhidium ofmec, from southern Veracruz, phylogenetic relationships of B. manhi within Bothriechk based Mexico (Serpentes: Viperidae). Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc. bknlbiochemical and korphological data. Murphy and Mitchell 2197-106. (1984) and Rokoskv (1942) provided information on birth incaotivitv Pope, C.H. 1944.The poisonous snakes of the New World. New York and j"venile color &riati&, Clark and Inger (1942) the scale ;educ- Zool. Soc., New York. tion formula, March (1929) information on human envenomation, -1955. The wor1d.A natural history of the snakes, lizards, Snider and Bowler (1992) longevity in captivity, and Campbell and turtles, and crocodilians. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Lamar (1983) listed some of the literature. Rokosky, E.J. 1942. Notes on Trimeresums nigroYiridis marchi. Copeia 1942:260. Remarks. Two recently collected specimens that have not Snider, A.T. andJ.K. Bowler. 1932. Longevityof reptiles andamphibi- been previously mentioned in the literature are Royal Ontario Mu- ans in North American collections. 2nd ed. SSAR Herpetol. Cu. seum(R0M) 20016 fromEI Cusuco, 1540 m, Departamento de CortCs (21):iii + 40 p. and National Museum of Natural History (USNM) 31942 from Villa,J. 1962. Las serpientes venenosasde Nicaragua. Editorial Nove- Quebrada de Oro, 1090 m, Departamento de Adintida. The latter dades, Managua. specimen was recently born when collected on 6 August. -1984. The venomous snakes of Nicaragua: a synopsis. Milwau- kee Pub. Mus. Contrib. Biol. Geol. (59):l-41. Etymology. The name marchi is a patronyrn honoring Wilson, L.D. and J.R. Meyer. 1985. The snakes of Honduras. 2nd ed. Douglas March, the collector of the type series. Milwaukee Pub. Mus., Milwaukee.

Literature Cited Larry David Wilson, Department of Biology, Miami-Dade Cornmu- Barbour, T. and A. Loveridge. 1929. Onsome Honduranian and Gua- nitydollege,South~am~~s,~iami,~~33176;nd ~ames~~c~ranle, temalan snakes with the description of a new arboreal 10770 S.W. 164th Street, Miami, F1 33157. of the Genus Bothmps. Bull. Antivenin Inst. Amer. 3:1:3. Primary editor for this Campbell, JA. 1982. The biogeography of the cloud forest herpeto- Roben POwell' fauna of Middle America, with special reference to the Sierra de las Minas of Guatemala, Ph.D. diss. Univ. Kansas, Lawrence. Published 30November 1992andCopyrightO 1992bythe Society for Amphibians Reptiles. -and E.D. Brodie, Jr. (eds.). 1992. Biologyof the pitvipers. Selva, the Study of and