“…As a model for this study, we selected B. alternatus , a poisonous snake species with public health importance. Thorough and continuous efforts have been made for decades to perform unbiased samplings throughout its distribution area in Argentina (e.g., Arzamendia & Giraudo, ; Bellini, Giraudo, Arzamendia, & Etchepare, ; Giraudo, ; Giraudo & Arzamendia, ; Giraudo et al., ; Nori, Carrasco, & Leynaud, ). Besides, B. alternatus : (a) presents a well‐understood distribution; (b) is easily detectable (it lives in relatively wet mesophilic open areas including grasslands, savannas, wetlands, and open forests in the Espinal, where exhaustive surveys are possible; (c) has a large and conspicuous size and is relatively abundant throughout its spatial distribution); (d) offers plenty of information about its natural history such as diet, habitat use, and reproduction (Bellini et al., ; Giraudo, ; Giraudo et al., ; Scrocchi, Moreta, & Kretzschmar, ); (e) presents peculiarities in its distribution which constitute real challenges in modeling; for example, it has not been found in humid forests to the northeast of its distribution (Giraudo, ) and two disjunctive and isolated populations occur in coastal areas and the Pampean hills in Buenos Aires province (South distribution).…”