Hog Nosed Pit Viper

The hog nosed pit viper is a small snake that can measure up to 65 cm long, but the average adult measures around 50 cm. Females are longer and more robust than males, with a maximum length known is 48 cm. The head is large, wide and well defined. The snout is pointy and the tail short. The rostral scale on the tip of the snout is notably high, which gives it an appearance of horns or proboscis. This is the distinctive characteristic of the species in Costa Rica. Dorsal scales are keeled and the base color varies: from gray, reddish to dark brown, and almost black. It also has a series of dark rectangular marks along the body, separated by a thin vertebral line.

The hog nosed pit viper is a terrestrial species, common in the fallen leaves, where it is active during the day and night time. It hunts mainly frogs and lizards under the fallen leaves. The species can be found from Mexico to the northwest of Ecuador. In Costa Rica it can be found in humid forests and marginally in premontane forests, on both the Caribbean slope and the southwest of the Pacific plains, from sea level to 1000 m of altitude.

Scientific name: Porthidium nasutum

Family: Viperidae Family

Common name: rainforest hognosed pitviper or horned hog-nosed viper

Hog Nosed Pit Viper

Conservation: Least Concern. Porthidium nasutum is listed in this category because the species is widely distributed, frequently encountered in some parts of its range, and is considered to be facing no major immediate extinction threats. Despite being listed as Least Concern, P. nasutum faces the threat of habitat loss and direct killing.

Distribution: Porthidium nasutum is native to the Mesoamerican and Chocoan lowlands from southeastern Mexico to northwestern Ecuador.