AnimalvsAnimal
Lachesis muta muta🐍

Photo: Christopher Murray · Public domain

SpeciesViperidae
Reptiles

🐍Lachesis muta

Lachesis muta (Linnaeus, 1766)

Lachesis muta, también conocida como serpiente de cascabel muda, ​ verrugosa del oriente,​ cuaima, surucucú, pucarara, cascabel pua, matabuey o shushupe (Lachesis muta) es una especie de serpiente de la familia Viperidae. Es la víbora más larga del mundo, y posiblemente la segunda serpiente venenosa más grande, tan solo superada por la cobra real. Se halla en Centroamérica y Sudamérica. Se reconocen dos subespecies, ​existiendo según algunos herpetólogos una tercera subespecie endémica de Bolivia, a la que correspondería el nombre científico Lachesis muta bolivianus. Además es una de las especies de serpiente con el veneno mas letal, ​aunque los casos de mordeduras de esta especie son poco frecuentes.​ Todos los casos de mordedura de esta serpiente deben clasificarse como "muy graves" ya que por lo general los pronosticos son muy malos y se ha calculado que la tasa de mortalidad alcanza un 80%,​. Sin embargo, evita el contacto con los seres humanos. Es sigilosa y ataca a sus presas durante la noche.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
None yet
Photos
3
Measurements
8
vs you
≈ 1/11th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2021.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
5.82 kg
Body length
3.6 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
32 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Lachesis muta

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
5.82 kgrecord 22 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
3.6 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
32 yearsrecord 32 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
77 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 10
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Activity cycle
Nocturnal
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Venomous
Yes
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
5.8 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Lachesis muta yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classSquamata
  4. ›familyViperidae
  5. ›genusLachesis
  6. ›speciesLachesis muta
Full lineage
  1. orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
  2. infraorderSnakes · Serpentes
  3. subfamilyCrotalinae
  4. genusLachesis
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. superorderLepidosauria
  10. orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
  11. infraorderSnakes · Serpentes
  12. familyViperidae
  13. subfamilyCrotalinae
  14. genusLachesis
More

More about the Lachesis muta

In other languages
Lachesis muta (es), serp cascavell muda (ca), křovinář němý (cs), Südamerikanischer Buschmeister (de), surukuku (fi), Lachesis muta (fr) … and 17 more languages
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