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Arrows pointing to the pit organs are red; a black arrow points to the nostril. The ability to sense infrared thermal radiation evolved independently in three different groups of snakes, consisting of the families of Boidae (boas), Pythonidae (pythons), and the subfamily Crotalinae (pit vipers). What is commonly called a pit organ allows these ...
They are distinguished by the presence of a heat-sensing pit organ located between the eye and the nostril on both sides of the head. Currently, 23 genera and 155 species are recognized: [4] These are also the only viperids found in the Americas. The groups of snakes represented here include rattlesnakes, lanceheads, and Asian pit vipers.
The generic name, Bothrops, comes from the Greek words bothros and ops, which mean 'pit' and 'face' (or 'eye'), respectively. This is a reference to these snakes' highly sensitive heat-detecting pit organs. The specific epithet, asper, which is a Latin word meaning 'rough' or 'harsh', may allude to the species' keeled dorsal scales. [8]
The generic name, Bothrops, is derived from the Greek words βόθρος, bothros, meaning ' pit ', and ὄψ, ops, meaning ' eye ' or ' face ', together an allusion to the heat-sensitive loreal pit organs. Members of this genus are responsible for more human deaths in the Americas than any other group of venomous snakes. [2] Currently, 48 ...
The prairie rattlesnake group carries the distinctive triangle-shaped head and pit sensory organs on either side of the head. A key characteristic that can help differentiate a prairie rattlesnake from other rattlesnakes is the presence of two internasals contacting the rostral.
Like other pit viper species but unlike most snakes, rattlesnakes don't lay eggs. Instead, they give birth to live young. Eight is an average-size brood, with the number depending on the snake's ...
A new snake species, the northern green anaconda, sits on a riverbank in the Amazon's Orinoco basin. “The size of these magnificent creatures was incredible," Fry said in a news release earlier ...
The loreal pit is visible between the eye and the nostril. Diagram of the loreal pit. The loreal pit is the deep depression, or fossa, in the loreal area on either side of the head in pit vipers (crotaline snakes). The area is located behind the nostril and in front of the eye, but below the line that runs between the centers of each.