The hognosed pitviper is a small snake that can measure up to 65 cm long, but the average adult measures around 50 cm. Females are longer and more robust than males, with a maximum length known is 48 cm. The head is large, wide and well defined. The snout is pointy and the tail short. The rostral scale on the tip of the snout is notably high, which gives it an appearance of horns or proboscis. This is the distinctive characteristic of the species in Costa Rica. Dorsal scales are keeled and the base color varies: from gray, reddish to dark brown, and almost black. It also has a series of dark rectangular marks along the body, separated by a thin vertebral line.

The hognosed pitviper is a terrestrial species, common in the fallen leaves, where it is active during the day and night time. It hunts mainly frogs and lizards under the fallen leaves. The species can be found from Mexico to the northwest of Ecuador. In Costa Rica it can be found in humid forests and marginally in premontane forests, on both the Caribbean slope and the southwest of the Pacific plains, from sea level to 1000 m of altitude.