by Greg Mayer

The cantil (Agkistrodon bilineatus), or Mexican moccasin, is a pit viper closely related to the water moccasin and copperhead of the United States. Like a number of other snakes, it moves its tail in a manner thought to attract the attention of prey, enticing them to come closer or look away from the snake’s business end, a behavior called caudal luring.

In juvenile cantils, the effect is accentuated by the bright color of the tail tip; this color fades with age.

There are several subspecies, distributed discontinuously from northern Mexico to northern Costa Rica. I’m not sure which subspecies the ones pictured here are.

________________________________________________________________

Parkinson, C.L., K.R. Zamudio and H.W. Greene. 2000. Phylogeography of the pitviper clade Agkistrodon: historical ecology, species status, and conservation of cantils Molecular Ecology 9:411-420. pdf