- Vipera ammodytes transcaucasiana
Taxobox
name = "Vipera ammodytes transcaucasiana"
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Chordata
subphylum = Vertebrata
classis = Reptilia
ordo =Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia =Viperidae
subfamilia =Viperinae
genus = "Vipera "
species = "V. ammodytes"
subspecies = "V. a. transcaucasiana"
trinomial = "Vipera ammodytes transcaucasiana"
trinomial_authority = Boulenger, 1913
synonyms = * "Vipera ammodytes transcaucasiana" - Boulenger, 1913
* "Vipera ammodytes transversovirgata" - Zarevski, 1915
* "V" ["ipera"] . "a" ["mmodytes"] . "transcaucasiana" - Bruno, 1985
* ["Vipera ammodytes"] "transcaucasiana" - Golay et al., 1993
* ["Vipera ammodytes"] "transcaucasiana" - Herprint Internatl., 1994McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).] :"Common names: Transcaucasian sand viper, Armenian sand viper.Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida. 359 pp. ISBN 0-89464-877-2.] ""Vipera ammodytes transcaucasiana" is a venomous vipersubspecies ITIS|ID=|taxon=Vipera ammodytes transcaucasiana|year=2006|date=11 August] found in parts of Georgia and northern Turkish Anatolia.Description
Grows to a maximum length of 75 cm, but is usually not so large.
On the head, the
rostral scale is wider than it is long, supporting a rostral appendage or "horn" covered with 9-17 scales arranged in 3 (rarely 2 or 4) transverse rows. On the dorsum, there are two largesupraoculars of which the posterior extends beyond the posterior margin of the eye. The rest of the head is covered with small, irregular scales that are either smooth or weakly keeled. There are 7interocular scale rows. Frontal and parietal plates usually absent. The nostril is located within a single, large, concavenasal scale that is rarely divided. The nasal is separated from the rostral by a singlenasorostral scale . Thetemporal scales are either smooth or weakly keeled. There are 11-12circumorbital scales , while two rows separate the eye from thesupralabials . There are 9-10supralabials , of which the 4th and 5th are the largest.Midbody there are 21 rows of strongly keeled
dorsal scales , while those bordering theventrals are either smooth or only weakly keeled. There are 148-160 ventrals and 32-40 pairedsubcaudal scales . Theanal plate is single.The color pattern consists of a light gray, ash gray, silver gray, pale gray or grayish white ground color, overlaid with a dorsal pattern of narrow transverse bands. The top of the head and the nasal horn do not have any irregular dark markings, except for a weak V-marking on the back of the head. The iris id golden or coppery. Juveniles have a similar color pattern.
Geographic range
Confined to sections of Georgia and northern Turkish Anatolia, according to Nilson et al. (1988). Contrary to some publications, this subspecies does not occur in
Armenia ,Azerbaijan orIran .Taxonomy
Some elevate "V. a. transcaucasiana" to species level based on genetic distances that are larger than other full species, such as between "V. aspis" and "V. latastei" (Herrmann et al. 1987, 1992).
ee also
*
List of viperine species and subspecies
*
*
*Snakebite References
External links
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.