Trimeresurus albolabris

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"Green pit viper" redirects here. For Sri Lankan green pit viper, see Trimeresurus trigonocephalus.
Trimeresurus albolabris
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae
Genus: Trimeresurus
Species: T. albolabris
Binomial name
Trimeresurus albolabris
Gray, 1842
Synonyms
  • Trimesurus albolabris Gray, 1842
  • T[rimeresurus]. albolabris
    – Theobald, 1879
  • Trimeresurus gramineus albolabris – Mell, 1922
  • Trimeresurus albolabris
    – Pope & Pope, 1933
  • Trimeresurus albolabris albolabris – Regenass & Kramer, 1981[1]
  • Cryptelytrops albolabris
    – Malhotra & Thorpe, 2004
  • Trimeresurus (Trimeresurus) albolabris – David et al., 2011[2]

Green pit viper (Trimeresurus albolabris) is a venomous pit viper species that is endemic to Southeast Asia. Three subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate race described here.[3]

Description

T. albolabris at the Houston Zoo.

Maximum total length males 600 mm (24 in), females 810 mm (32 in); maximum tail length males 120 mm (4.7 in), females 130 mm (5.1 in).[4]

Head scalation consists of 10-11(12) upper labials, the first partially or completely fused to the nasal. Head scales small, subequal, feebly imbricate, smooth or weakly keeled. The supraoculars are narrow (occasionally enlarged and undivided) with 8-12 interocular scales between them. Temporal scales smooth.[4]

Midbody has 21 (rarely 19) longitudinal dorsal scale rows. The ventral scales are 155-166 in males, 152-176 in females. The subcaudals are paired, 60-72 in males, 49-66 in females. The hemipenes are without spines.[4]

Color pattern: green above, the side of the head below the eyes is yellow, white or pale green, much lighter than rest of head. The belly is green, yellowish or white below. A light ventrolateral stripe is present in all males, but absent in females. The end of tail is not mottled brown.[4]

Common names

Common names include Green Pit viper, White-lipped pitviper,[5] white-lipped tree viper and white-lipped bamboo viper.[6]

Geographic range

Found in northern India (Assam), Nicobar Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, southern China (Fukien, Hainan, Kwangsi, Kwangtung), Hong Kong, West Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Java, Madoera, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores, Sumba, Roti, Timor, Kisar, Wetar). The type locality given is "China".[1]

Subspecies

Species[3] Taxon author[3] Common name[5] Geographic range[5]
T. a. albolabris Gray, 1842 White-lipped pitviper Bangladesh, Cambodia, China (Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan), India (Assam and Nicobar Islands), Indonesia (Sumatra, Bangka, western Java and Madura), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
T. a. insularis Kramer, 1977 White-lipped island pitviper Indonesia: eastern Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Komodo, Rinco, Flores, Adonara, Lembata, Pantar, Alor, Roti, Semau, Timor, Wetar, Kisar and Romang.
T. a. septentrionalis Kramer, 1977 Northern white-lipped pitviper Northern India (Kashmir) and Nepal.

Taxonomy

Giannasi et al. (2001) raised insularis and septentrionalis to species level.[5][7] Malhotra & Thorpe (2004) transferred this species (and a number of others) to the genus Cryptelytrops.[8] David et al. (2011) returned it to the genus Trimeresurus and assigned it the subgenus Trimeresurus, creating the new combination Trimeresurus (Trimeresurus) albolabris.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Trimeresurus albolabris". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 7 August 2006. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Leviton AE, Wogan GOU, Koo MS, Zug GR, Lucas RS, Vindum JV. 2003. The Dangerously Venomous Snakes of Myanmar, Illustrated Checklist with Keys. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 54 (24): 407-462. PDF at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Division of Amphibians and Reptiles. Accessed 8 August 2006.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. Asian Pitvipers. GeitjeBooks Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4.
  6. ↑ U.S. Navy. 1991. Poisonous Snakes of the World. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. ISBN 0-486-26629-X.
  7. ↑ Giannasi N, Thorpe RS, Malhotra A. 2001. The use of amplified fragment length polymorphism in determining species trees at fine taxonomic levels: analysis of a medically important snake, Trimeresurus albolabris. Molecular Ecology 10: 419-426. [http://sbsweb.bangor.ac.uk/~bss024/pdfs/2001/Giannasi MEC 2001.pdf PDF] at Homepage of Professor Roger Stephen Thorpe, University of Wales, Bangor. Accessed 8 August 2006.
  8. ↑ Malhotra, A. & R.S. Thorpe (2004) A phylogeny of four mitochondrial gene regions suggests a revised taxonomy for Asian pitvipers (Trimeresurus and Ovophis). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 32: 83–100.

Further reading

  • Das I. 1999. Biogeography of the amphibians and reptiles of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. In: Ota, H. (ed) Tropical Island herpetofauna, Elsevier, pp. 43–77.
  • David P, Vogel V. 2000. On the occurrence of Trimeresurus albolabris (Gray 1842) on Sumatra Island, Indonesia (Reptilia, Serpentes, Viperidae, Crotalinae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 80 (1/2): 225-232.
  • David P, Vogel G, Dubois A. 2011. On the need to follow rigorously the Rules of the Code for the subsequent designation of a nucleospecies (type species) for a nominal genus which lacked one: the case of the nominal genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 (Reptilia: Squamata: Viperidae). Zootaxa 2992: 1-51.
  • Einfalt P. 2002. Haltung und Vermehrung von Trimeresurus albolabris (Gray 1842). Elaphe 10 (4): 31-36.
  • Gray, JE. 1842. Synopsis of the species of Rattle-Snakes, or Family of CROTALIDÆ. The Zoological Miscellany 2: 47-51. (Trimeresurus albolabris, p. 48.)
  • Gumprecht, A. 2001. Die Bambusottern der Gattung Trimeresurus Lacépède Teil IV: Checkliste der Trimeresurus-Arten Thailands. Sauria 23 (2): 25-32.
  • Leviton AE, Wogan GOU, Koo MS, Zug GR, Lucas RS, Vindum JV. 2003. The Dangerously Venomous Snakes of Myanmar, Illustrated Checklist with Keys. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 54 (24): 407-462 .
  • Parkinson CL. 1999. Molecular systematics and biogeographical history of Pit Vipers as determined by mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences. Copeia 1999 (3): 576-586.
  • Tu MC, Wang HY, Tsai MP, Toda M, Lee WJ, Zhang FJ, Ota H. 2000. Phylogeny, Taxonomy, and Biogeography of the Oriental Pit Vipers of the Genus Trimeresurus (Reptilia: Viperidae: Crotalinae): A Molecular Perspective. Zoological Science 17: 1147-1157.

External links

Snakes in the Trimeresurus genus
Alethinophidia
Scolecophidia
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