Trimeresurus strigatus

Trimeresurus strigatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Genus: Trimeresurus
Species: T. strigatus
Binomial name
Trimeresurus strigatus
Gray, 1842
Synonyms
  • Trimesurus [sic] strigatus Gray, 1842
  • Atropos Darwini
    A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron &
    A.H.A. Duméril, 1854
  • Trigonocephalus (Cophias) neelgherriensis Jerdon, 1854
  • Trimesurus Nielgherriensis
    – Beddome, 1862
  • T[rigonocephalus]. Darwini
    – Jan, 1859
  • B[othrops] Darwini
    – Jan, 1863
  • T[rimeresurus]. strigolus Theobald, 1868
  • Crotalus Trimeres[urus]. strigatus – Higgins, 1873
  • T[rimeresurus]. strigatus
    – Theobald, 1876
  • T[rigonocephalus]. Nilghiriensis Theobald, 1876
  • Lachesis strigatus
    – Boulenger, 1896
  • Trimeresurus strigatus
    – M.A. Smith, 1943
  • P[rotobothrops]. strigatus
    – Kraus, Mink & Brown, 1996[2]
  • Trimeresurus strigatus
    – Herrmann et al., 2004
  • Trimeresurus (Craspedocephalus) strigatus – David et al., 2011[3]
Common names: horseshoe pitviper.[4]

Trimeresurus strigatus is a venomous pitviper species found in the Western Ghats. No subspecies are currently recognized.[5]

Geographic range

Found in the hills of southern India, Trimeresurus strigatus is distributed in the Nilgiri (Whitaker & Captain, 2004).

The type locality listed is "Cape of Good Hope?" and "Madras?" (Madras Presidency (and not the City), India). The former must be a mistake.[2] Boulenger (1896) restricted the type locality to "Madras Presidency".[3] The species is said to be Endemic to the catchment areas of Western ghats montane hills.The locality is restricted to southern Western ghats. Habituates to montane grassland with ahaetulla perrotetii.Feeds mainly on Raorchestes and Ghatixalus variabilis frog species.Also the Endemic NILGIRIS salea supports the feeding ecology for the Trimeresurus strigatus species.Poor knowledge about the species is known.Nucleotidal sequence of this species is not collected and stored in the ncbi gene bank.Molecular study will be helpful to know well about the species.

Description

Trimeresurus strigatus may be distinguished from other pit vipers of peninsular India based on the presence of small internasals, 2nd supralabial in contact with loreal pit, 21 rows of smooth or weakly-keeled dorsal scales at midbody, and a single row of scales between labials and suboculars. The common name of the species is based on the presence of a pale buff horseshoe-shaped (i.e., inverted 'U') mark on the nape. The snake is pale brownish or buff coloured with darker blotches of grey and some white streaks.

This species is essentially a terrestrial animal, with most of the sightings on ground or rock formations.

Of 12 snakes measured, the mean snout-vent length (SVL) was 24.4 ± 7.04 cm (9.6 ± 2.8 in), the tail length (tL) was 3.5 ± 0.8 cm (1.4 ± 0.3 in), and the weight was 172 ± 10.5 g (6 ± 0.4 oz).

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/172655/0
  2. 1 2 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).
  3. 1 2 The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  4. ↑ Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. Asian Pitvipers. Geitje Books. Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4.
  5. ↑ "Trimeresurus strigatus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 27 September 2006.

Further reading

  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III., Containing the...Viperidæ. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor & Francis, Printers.) xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I.- XXV. (Lachesis strigatus, pp. 549–550.)
  • Gray, J.E. 1842. Synopsis of the species of Rattle-Snakes, or Family of CROTALIDÆ. The Zoological Miscellany 2: 47-51. ("Trimesurus [sic] strigatus", p. 49.)
  • Herrmann, H.-W.; Ziegler, T.; Malhotra, A.; Thorpe, R.S.; & Parkinson, C.L. 2004. Redescription and systematics of Trimeresurus cornutus (Serpentes: Viperidae) based on morphology and molecular data. Herpetologica 60 (2): 211-221.


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