![]() Similarly, eyelash pit vipers with red coloration will camouflage themselves within red-colored bromeliads, where they ambush and feed on small amphibians. Here they wait to ambush bats or other organisms that visit to feed on the bananas. Yellow eyelash pit vipers often inhabit areas where bananas are plentiful, as they are capable of blending in with the brightly colored fruits. Habitat plays an important role in eyelash pit viper coloration, as they rely heavily on camouflage when ambushing prey. In all morphs, the tip of the tail is yellow or green and the ventral body surface pale yellow, sometimes with darker mottles or stripes. Yellow eyelash pit vipers typically show little additional coloration, whereas other morphs typically have speckled markings or crossbands of black, green, red, orange, yellow, and/or silver or pale green. Other color morphs common in eyelash pit vipers are bright yellow, pink, green, silver or dark grey, or brown. This species is unusual, as its dorsal ground color is most often olive green. Eyelash pit vipers are extremely variable in appearance, displaying a wide range of color morphs within populations and even within litters. ![]() The genus Bothriechis is represented by nine species, each characterized by the presence of a prehensile tail (used for climbing) and typically bright green or yellow dorsal coloration. ![]() They also are frequently reported in plantations, on the branches of coffee trees. Instead, they are found most often in dense shrub thickets, low hanging tree branches, vines, or in the coarse bark of various palm species. Habitats in close proximity to water appear to provide them with a large number and diversity of prey, particularly small birds, amphibians, and reptiles.Įyelash pit vipers spend very little time on the forest floor, where predation rates are generally higher than in areas lacking thick vegetation for camouflage. They have been found at elevations ranging from 860 to 2500 m. They occur in near sea-level and streamside vegetation in moist lowlands and mountain foothills to high-elevation montane and cloud forests. ( Parkinson, 1999 Berthold, 2010 O'Shea, 2005 Parkinson, 1999)Įyelash pit vipers occupy a wide range of wooded or shrubby habitats, particularly in moist tropical forests. This species is considered to be one of the most widely distributed of the arboreal vipers. In Central America and northern South America, they occur in portions of Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Eyelash pit vipers, also known as eyelash palm pit vipers ( Bothriechis schlegelii), are widely distributed throughout moist lowland and montane forests from Chiapas, Mexico (the southernmost state in Mexico), through northwestern Ecuador and western Venezuela.
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