NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Golden Lancehead
Bothrops insularis (Amaral, 1922)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
A golden lancehead viper held in the Biological Museum, Instituto Butantan.
Nayeryouakim · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The golden lancehead (Bothrops insularis) is an extremely venomous pit viper species in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. The species is found exclusively on the island of Ilha da Queimada Grande, off the coast of São Paulo state, in Brazil. The common name of the species refers to the light yellowish-brown color of its underside and for its lance-like head shape that is characteristic of the genus Bothrops. No subspecies of B. insularis are recognized as being valid. It is one of the most venomous snakes in Latin America.
Wikipedia contributors, Golden lancehead; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:54:47.452876+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Bothrops insularis (Amaral, 1922)
- Name authority
- (Amaral, 1922)
- Common name
- Golden Lancehead
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Viperidae
- Genus
- Bothrops
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyViperidae
- subfamilyCrotalinae
- genusBothrops
- speciesBothrops insularis (Amaral, 1922)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Bothrops. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Jonathan's LanceheadBothrops jonathani Harvey, 1994 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Brazilian LanceheadBothrops moojeni Hoge, 1966 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Franceses island-LanceheadBothrops sazimai Barbo, Gasparini, Almeida, Zaher, Grazziotin, Gusmão, Ferrarini & Sawaya, 2016 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bothrops monsignifer Timms, Chaparro, Venegas, Salazar-Valenzuela, Scrocchi, Cuevas, Leynaud & Carrasco, 2019 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bothrops oligobalius Dal Vechio, Prates, Grazziotin, Graboski & Rodrigues, 2021 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Jabre’s LanceheadBothrops jabrensis Barbo, Grazziotin, Pereira-Filho, Freitas, Abrantes & Kokubum, 2022 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| UrutuBothrops alternatus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Barba AmarillaBothrops atrox (Linnaeus, 1758) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Barnett's LanceheadBothrops barnetti Parker, 1938 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Green JararacaBothrops bilineatus (Wied-Neuwied, 1821) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| CotiaraBothrops cotiara (Gomes, 1913) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Caatinga LanceheadBothrops erythromelas (Amaral, 1923) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Lachesis insularis Amaral, 1922 Amaral, 1922 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Bothrops&species=insularis Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:MNY4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.