文章

Agkistrodon bilineatus is a viperid snake with a broad geographic range in Mexico and Central America. Because this species has potent venom and is categorized as Near Threatened on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, understanding its habitat associations and distribution will contribute to both human health and conservation decisions internationally. Based on a comprehensive review of literature and museum records, in addition to our fieldwork, we built the first distribution model for A. bilineatus. Our presence-only consensus model exclusively incorporated contemporary records for the species (from 1980 to 2022, n = 36). The variables that contributed most strongly to the consensus model were: (a) distance to deciduous broadleaf forest, (b) human population density, (c) elevation, (d) precipitation of the wettest quarter, and (e) percentage of herbaceous cover. Of the high-probability distribution area for A. bilineatus predicted by the model, 72.9 % is in Mexico, 12.7 % in Honduras, 9.1 % in Guatemala and 5.2 % in El Salvador. Of the A. bilineatus historical records (those pre-1980), 92.3 % (36/39) were within the high-probability area predicted by the model, indicating either strong model performance or overprediction. Included in our modelling effort were the first two records for A. bilineatus from the State of Mexico, which increases the number of reptile species to 102 in this State. We briefly discuss the implications of our work for human medical treatment and improved conservation assessments for this species, which experiences many environmental threats.