UNAM
Revista Digital Universitaria
Revista Digital Universitaria ISSN: 1607 - 6079 | Publicación mensual | 1 de noviembre de 2014 vol.15, No.11

ABSTRACT

Venomous reptiles in Mexico



Enrique Edgar Neri Castro, Melisa Bénard Valle y Alejandro Alagón Cano


Mexico possesses a great diversity of herpetofauna, counting 864 species, which represent 8.7% of all reptiles in the world. It has the highest number of venomous reptile species in America. There are two medically relevant families of snakes in our country: Viperidae, which includes the genus Crotalus (rattlesnakes), Agkistrodon (cantils) and Bothrops (nauyacas), whose venoms are complex mixtures of proteins; and Elapidae, which includes sea snakes (Hydrophis) and coral snakes (Micrurus) whose venoms are composed mainly of neurotoxins.



Keywords: snakes, venom, Viperidae, Elapidae