Trimeresurus elegans

Trimeresurus elegans
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Subfamily:	Crotalinae
Genus:	Trimeresurus
Species:	T. elegans
Binomial name
Trimeresurus elegans (Gray, 1849)
Synonyms
Craspedocephalus elegans - Gray, 1849 Trimeresurus luteus - Boettger, 1895 Trimeresurus luteus - Boettger, 1895 Lachesis luteus - Boulenger, 1896 Lachesis lutea - Boettger, 1898 Trimeresurus elegans - Stejneger, 1907 Trimeresurus mucrosq[uamatus]. elegans - Mell, 1929 P[rotobothrops]. elegans - Kraus, Mink & Brown, 1996[1]

Common names: elegant pitviper,^[2] Sakishima habu,^[3] elegant tree viper.^[4]

Trimeresurus elegans is a venomous pitviper species found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. No subspecies are currently recognized.^[5] The species is aggressive with large fangs. It can strike at over one half the length of its body.

Description

Scalation includes 25 (sometimes 23) rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 179-192 or 182-196 ventral scales, 63-90 subcaudal scales and 8 (sometimes 7 or 9) supralabial scales.^[2]

Geographic range

Found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. The type locality is unknown. Boulenger listed it as "---- ?" while Gray's original 1849 description gives "West Coast of [North?] America." A restriction to "Ishigaki-Shima [Ryukyu Islands, Japan]" was proposed by Stejneger (1907).^[1]

See also

• List of crotaline species and subspecies
• Trimeresurus by common name
• Trimeresurus by taxonomic synonyms
• Crotalinae by common name
• Crotalinae by taxonomic synonyms
• Snakebite

References

1. ^ ^{a b} McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
2. ^ ^{a b} Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. Asian Pitvipers. GeitjeBooks Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4.
3. ^ Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
4. ^ Brown JH. 1973. Toxicology and Pharmacology of Venoms from Poisonous Snakes. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 184 pp. LCCCN 73-229. ISBN 0-398-02808-7.
5. ^ "Trimeresurus elegans". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=634909. Retrieved 25 July 2008. 

External links

• Protobothrops elegans at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 25 July 2007.