Lachesis is a genus of highly venomous pit vipers found in the remote, forested areas in Central and South America. This genus, also referred to as the bushmasters, currently contains four species.

Description

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Adults bushmasters vary in length from two to 2½ metres (seven to eight feet) and some individuals may reach three metres (10 ft). The largest known adult was just under 3.65m (12'), making the bushmaster the longest venomous snake in the Western Hemisphere. The bushmaster is also the longest viper, though not the heaviest (it is surpassed by the Gaboon viper and the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake). Bushmasters feed exclusively on small mammals, and, despite their size, feed on animals considerably smaller than they are (in contrast to most other snakes, which are known to consume prey larger than themselves).

Lachesis is the only neo-tropical pit viper that lays eggs: about a dozen in the average clutch. The female is reported to remain with the eggs during incubation and may aggressively defend the nest if approached. The hatchlings average 30 cm (12 in.) in length and are more colorful than the adults.

Species

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Species	Authority	Common name	Geographic range
L. acrochorda	García, 1896	Chocoan Bushmaster	Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador
L. melanocephala	Solórzano and Cerdas, 1986	Black-headed bushmaster	South-East Costa Rica
L. muta	Linnaeus, 1766	South American bushmaster	Colombia, East Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, Surinam, French Guiana, Guyana, Trinidad, North-East/East Peru, North Bolivia
L. stenophrys	Cope, 1875	Central American bushmaster	Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama

Venom

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The bushmaster's bite can be fatal for humans, causing massive internal bleeding and tissue necrosis (death of cells). It may be the most dangerous snake in the world, even though some other snakes have considerably stronger venom, drop for drop. The venom is slightly less potent than that of a diamondback rattlesnake and about 40 times less so than the Fierce Snake of Australia. They more than make up for that in sheer quantity of venom injected. Even treated, the mortality rate is 80%. Fortunately for their human neighbors, bushmasters are not often seen as they inhabit deep forest. Their lethality seems to have influenced their scientific naming however. Lachesis muta means mute fate, a testament to the inevitability of death to a bitten individual.

References

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• Living Snakes of the World in Color by John M. Mehrtens, 1987. ISBN 0-8069-6460X
• Venomous Snakes of the World by Mark O'Shea, 2005. ISBN 0691124361

External links

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• EMBL Reptile Database - Family Viperidae
• ITIS Report - Lachesis Daudin, 1803

Snakes | Vipers | Pit vipers | Fauna of Trinidad and Tobago

Buschmeister | Muta sonserpento | Lachesis | Bušmeisteris | Bosmeester