Bothrops atrox
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources11 archives
Databases and archives Bothrops atrox's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation13 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility4 164 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI10 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics6 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Bothrops atrox — also known as the common lancehead, fer-de-lance, barba amarillaCampbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. and mapepire balsain — is a highly venomous pit viper species found in the tropical lowlands of northern South America east of the Andes. No subspecies are currently recognized.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology1
Life cycle & reproduction1
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Bothrops atrox has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Bothrops atrox carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type4 164 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions19 of 55 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Washington, US | 199 |
| Museo de Zoologia, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuadorlocation not on record | 168 |
| Cambridge, US | 163 |
| Museo de Historia Natural “Gustavo Orcés V"location not on record | 92 |
| Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas - SINCHIlocation not on record | 89 |
| Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL)location not on record | 87 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record | 74 |
| Universidad de La Salle (La Salle)location not on record | 74 |
| Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH)location not on record | 73 |
| Berkeley, US | 62 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 56 |
| PUC-RSlocation not on record | 34 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 31 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 23 |
| Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record | 21 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 14 |
| 13 | |
| Paris, FR | 11 |
| Museo de Zoología, Universidad Técnica Particular de Lojalocation not on record | 9 |
| CASlocation not on record | 9 |
| Museo MZUTIlocation not on record | 9 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 8 |
| The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobagolocation not on record | 7 |
| Fundación Herpetológica Gustavo Orcéslocation not on record | 7 |
| Universidad Icesi (ICESI)location not on record | 7 |
| UNICAMPlocation not on record | 7 |
| University of Texas at Arlingtonlocation not on record | 5 |
| Universidad de Caldas (UCaldas)location not on record | 5 |
| South Kensington, GB | 5 |
| Brussels, BE | 5 |
| Museo de Zoología de la Universidad del Azuay (MZUA)location not on record | 5 |
| Los Angeles, US | 4 |
| Provo, US | 4 |
| Universidad de los Llanos (UniLlanos)location not on record | 4 |
| San Diego, US | 3 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 3 |
| Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)location not on record | 3 |
| Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS)location not on record | 3 |
| University, National Zoological Collection of Surinamelocation not on record | 2 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 2 |
| Toronto, CA | 2 |
| Museo de Zoología, Universidad San Francisco de Quitolocation not on record | 2 |
| Universidade Federal de Juiz de Foralocation not on record | 2 |
| Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS)location not on record | 1 |
| Philadelphia, US | 1 |
| INMAlocation not on record | 1 |
| Corporación Universitaria Santa Rosa de Cabal (UNISARC)location not on record | 1 |
| Auckland, NZ | 1 |
| Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humbodlt (IAvH)location not on record | 1 |
| Bonn, DE | 1 |
| Londrina, BR | 1 |
| GeoPark Colombia S.A.S. (GeoPark)location not on record | 1 |
| Universidad de Pamplona (UPamplona)location not on record | 1 |
| IAvHlocation not on record | 1 |
| Barcelona, ES | 1 |
Where the DNA of Bothrops atrox was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.