THE THE FIRST DOCUMENTED PREY ITEMS FOR Bothrops medusa (STERNFELD, 1920)

Tristan David Schramer

doi:10.22201/fc.25942158e.2019.1.38

THE THE FIRST DOCUMENTED PREY ITEMS FOR Bothrops medusa (STERNFELD, 1920)

Authors

Tristan David Schramer Illinois Natural History Survey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/fc.25942158e.2019.1.38

Keywords:

diet, ecology, feeding, natural history, Venezuelan forest pitviper

Abstract

The Venezuelan forest pitviper (Bothrops medusa) is an endangered viperid endemic to the central range of the Cordillera de la Costa in Venezuela. Little is known regarding its natural history. We examined the stomach contents of museum specimens housed in the University of Illinois Museum of Natural History Herpetology Collection and report the first prey items for the species. The arboreal habits of both prey items support the notion that B. medusa may be semi-arboreal. This exposes the need for further studies on this rare viperid and showcases the value of natural history collections for studying endangered species.

Downloads

Schramer etal 2019 (Español (España))

Published

2019-05-27

How to Cite

Schramer, T. D. (2019). THE THE FIRST DOCUMENTED PREY ITEMS FOR Bothrops medusa (STERNFELD, 1920). Revista Latinoamericana De Herpetología, 2(1), 48–50. https://doi.org/10.22201/fc.25942158e.2019.1.38