Gloydius strauchi

Taxobox
name = "Gloydius strauchi"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia = Viperidae
subfamilia = Crotalinae
genus = "Gloydius"
species = "G. strauchi"
binomial = "Gloydius strauchi"
binomial_authority = (Bedriaga, 1912)
synonyms = * "Ancistrodon Strauchi" - Bedriaga, 1912
* "Agkistrodon tibetanus" - Barbour, 1912
* "Ancistrodon tibetanus" - Werner, 1922
* "Agkistrodon strauchi" - Stejneger, 1925
* "Ancistrodon halys strauchi" - Pavlov, 1932
* "Aghistrodon strauchi" - Wettstein, 1938
* "Gloydius strauchi" - Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981
* "Agkistrodon halys qinlingensis" - Song & Chen, 1985
* "Agkistrodon halys liupanensis" - Liu, Song & Luo, 1989McDiarmid 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).]

:"Common names: Tibetan pit viper,Gloyd HK, Conant R. 1990. Snakes of the "Agkistrodon" Complex: A Monographic Review. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 614 pp. 52 plates. LCCN 89-50342. ISBN 0-916984-20-6.] Strauch's pitviper.Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. Asian Pitvipers. GeitjeBooks Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4.] ""Gloydius strauchi" is a venomous pitviper species found in western China. A small snake with a pattern of four longitudinal stripes, although some older specimens may be a uniform black. Distinguished from "G. monticola" by its higher midbody dorsal scale count. This species jointly holds the altitude record for pitvipers together with "Crotalus triseriatus" of Mexico, both being found even above the tree line at over 4,000 m. No subspecies are currently recognized.ITIS|ID=634891|taxon="Gloydius strauchi"|year=2008|date=9 August]

Description

According to Gloyd and Conant (1990), this is a small snake, probably not growing to much more than 50 cm in length. The largest male they examind was 51 cm in total length of which the tail was 7.3 cm, the largest female 54.7 cm with a tail of 7.5 cm. The snout is rounded while the head is not too much wider than the neck. The body is moderately stout.

Scalation usually includes 21 rows of keeled dorsal scales at midbody, although the keels on the outer scale rows may be missing. Also, there are usually 7 supralabial scales, 145-175 ventral scales and 34-44 paired subcaudal scales.

The color pattern consists of a greenish brown, yellowish brown or nut brown ground color overlaid with four longitudinal stripes that are interrupted at intervals, sometimes curving and coalescing and at others forming an irregularly spotted or zigzag pattern. This pattern is clearly visible in young specimens, while older ones are dark or even uniformly black. A dark postocular stripe is present that more or less diffuses with the ground color above, but is clearly bordered below by a pale coloration of the lower temporal scales and posterior supralabial scales.

Geographic range

Found western China in the Tibetan Plateau in the provinces of Tsinghai and western Szechwan. The type locality given is "Dytschu, also den Oberlauf des Jan-tse-kiang... Tung-o-lo (Kamennoe Nagorie) und Daudsen-lu (Szytschuan)." Zhao & Adler (1993) give "Dytschu (= Moron Us and Tuotuo rivers?), upper Jan-tse-kiang (= Jinsha River, or upper Chang Jiang), Qinghai Prov., Tung-o-lo (= Dong-e-lo) and Daudsen-lu (or Ta-tsian-lu, = Kangding Co.), Sichuan Prov., China." Pope (1935) "restricted" the type locality to "Tungngolo" (located between Lit'ang and K'angting, Hsikang, China).

The elevational range is 2,886-4,267 m, even being found above the tree line. It jointly holds the altitude record for pitvipers together with "Crotalus triseriatus" in Mexico.Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. 2 volumes. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.]

ee also

* List of crotaline species and subspecies
*
*
* Snakebite

References

External links

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