Trimeresurus

Trimeresurus
Bamboo pitviper, T. gramineus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Subfamily:	Crotalinae
Genus:	Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804
Synonyms
Trimeresurus - Lacépède, 1804 Craspedocephalus - Kuhl & van Hassert, 1882 Trimeresura - Fleming, 1882 Crasedocephalus - Gray, 1825 Megaera - Wagler, 1830 Atropos - Wagler, 1830 Trimesurus - Gray, 1842[1]

Trimeresurus is a genus of venomous pitvipers found in Asia from Pakistan, through India, China, throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Currently 35 species are recognized.^[2] Common names include Asian pit vipers,^[3] Asian lanceheads and Asian lance-headed vipers.^[4]

Description

Most are relatively small, primarily arboreal species, with thin bodies and prehensile tails. They are typically green in color, but some species also have yellow, black, orange or red markings.

Feeding

Their diet includes a variety of other animals, including rodents, lizards, amphibians and birds.

Reproduction

Like most viper species, they are ovoviviparous.

Venom

Their venom varies between species in toxicity, but all are primarily hemotoxic and considered to be medically significant to humans. Urban legends of a "Two step viper" have been created around this genus suggesting that a certain species has the toxicity to kill a person within seconds, a reasonable explanation however is that there is a possibility of major allergic reaction to toxins which might have been misconceived as a deadly new species' venom.

Geographic range

Southeast Asia from India to southern China and Japan, and the Malay Archipelago to Timor.^[1]

Species

Species[2]	Taxon author[2]	Subsp.*[2]	Common name[5]	Geographic range[1]
T. albolabris	Gray, 1842	2	White-lipped pitviper	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).
T. borneensis	(Peters, 1872)	0	Bornean pitviper	Indonesia: Borneo.
T. brongersmai	Hoge, 1969	0	Brongersma's pitviper	Indonesia: Simalur Island.
T. cantori	(Blyth, 1846)	0	Cantor's pitviper	India: Nicobar Islands, and possibly the Andaman Islands.
T. cornutus	M.A. Smith, 1930	0	Fan-Si-Pan horned pitviper	Vietnam: Bach Ma and Tonkin. Occurs in rainforests at low elevations. Also in central Vietnam.[5]
T. elegans	(Gray, 1849)	0	Elegant pitviper	Japan: southern Ryukyu Islands.
T. erythrurus	(Cantor, 1839)	0	Red-tailed bamboo pitviper	India (Assam and Sikkim), Bangladesh and Myanmar.
T. fasciatus	(Boulenger, 1896)	0	Banded pitviper	Indonesia: Djampea Island.
T. flavomaculatus	(Gray, 1842)	2	Philippine pitviper	Philippine Islands: Agutayan, Batan, Camiguin, Catanduanes, Dinagat, Jolo, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros and Polillo.
T. flavoviridis	(Hallowell, 1861)	0	Habu	Japan: Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa and Amami Islands).
T. gracilis	Oshima, 1920	0	Kikushi habu	Central Taiwan.
T. gramineusT	(Shaw, 1802)	0	Bamboo pitviper	Southern India.
T. hageni	(Lidth de Jeude, 1886)	0	Hagen's pitviper	Peninsular Thailand, West Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra and the nearby islands of Bangka, Simalur, Nias, Batu and the Mentawai Islands.
T. jerdonii	Günther, 1875	2	Jerdon's pitviper	India (Assam) through northern Myanmar to Tibet, China (Hupeh, Szechwan and Yunnan) and Vietnam.
T. kanburiensis	M.A. Smith, 1943	0	Kanburi pitviper	Thailand.
T. karanshahi	Orlov & Helfenberger, 1997	0		Central Nepal in the Himalayas.
T. kaulbacki	M.A. Smith, 1940	0	Kaulback's lance-headed pitviper	Myanmar.
T. labialis	Steindachner, 1867	0	Nicobar bamboo pitviper	India: Nicobar Islands.
T. macrolepis	Beddome, 1862	0	Large-scaled pitviper	The mountains of southern India.
T. macrops	Kramer, 1977	0	Large-eyed pitviper	Thailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam.
T. malabaricus	(Jerdon, 1854)	0	Malabar rock pitviper	Southern and western India at 600-2,000 m elevation.
T. mangshanensis	Zhao, 1990	0	Mangshan pitviper	China: Hunan Province.
T. maolanensis	Yang, Orlov & Wang, 2011[6]	0		China: Guizhou
T. medoensis	Zhao, 1977	0	Motuo bamboo pitviper	Northern India, northern Myanmar and China (southeastern Xizang).
T. mucrosquamatus	(Cantor, 1839)	0	Brown spotted pitviper	India (Assam) and Bangladesh to Myanmar, China (Fukien, Kwangshi, Kwantung and Szechwan) and Taiwan.
T. phuketensis	Sumontha, Kunya, S.G. Pauwels, Nitikul & Punnadee, 2011 [7]	0	Phuket pitviper	Thailand: Phuket Island.
T. popeorum	M.A. Smith, 1937	2	Pope's bamboo pitviper	Northern India, Myanmar, Thailand, West Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia (Sumatra, the Mentawai Islands of Siberut, Sipora and North Pagai, and on the island of Borneo).
T. puniceus	(Kuhl, 1824)	0	Flat-nosed pitviper	Southern Thailand, West and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) and Indonesia (Borneo, Sumatra, the Mentawai Islands of Siberut and North Pagai, Simalur and Java.
T. purpureomaculatus	(Gray, 1832)	1	Mangrove pit viper	India (Assam and the Andaman Islands), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, West Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra).
T. schultzei	Griffin, 1909	0	Schultze's pitviper	Philippines: Palawan and Balabac.
T. stejnegeri	Schmidt, 1925	2	Stejneger's bamboo pitviper	India (Assam), and Nepal through Myanmar and Thailand to China (Kwangsi, Kwangtung, Hainan, Fukien, Chekiang, Yunnan) and Taiwan.
T. strigatus	Gray, 1842	0	Horseshoe pitviper	The hills of southern India.
T. sumatranus	(Raffles, 1822)	1	Sumatran pitviper	Southern Thailand, West and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo) and Indonesia (Bangka, Billiton, Borneo, Sumatra and the nearby islands of Simalur, Nias, and possibly the Mentawai Islands [Sipora]).
T. tibetanus	Huang, 1982	0	Tibetan bamboo pitviper	China: Xiang (Tibet) Autonomous Region.
T. tokarensis	Nagai, 1928	0	Tokara habu	Japan: Takarajima and Kotakarajima.
T. trigonocephalus	(Donndorff, 1798)	0	Sri Lankan green pitviper	Throughout Sri Lanka from low elevations to about 1,800 m.
T. xiangchengensis	Zhao, Jiang & Huang, 1978	0	Kham Plateau pitviper	China: Yunnan and western Sichuan.

*) Not including the nominate subspecies.
^T) Type species.^[1]

Taxonomy

Species that may be recognized by other sources include:

• T. andersonii - Theobald (1868). Commonly called Anderson's pit viper, found in the Andaman Islands of India.
• T. barati - Regenass & Kramer (1981). Commonly called Barat's bamboo viper, found in Indonesia.
• T. fucatus - Vogel, David & Pauwels (2004). Commonly called the Siamese peninsula pit viper and found in southern Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia.
• T. gumprechti - David, Vogel, Pauwels & Vidal (2002). Commonly called Gumprecht's green pit viper and found in northeastern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China and Myanmar.
• T. insularis - Kramer (1977). Commonly called the white-lipped island pit viper and found in Indonesia.
• T. malcolmi - Loveridge (1938). Commonly called Malcolm's pit viper and found on Borneo (Indonesia).
• T. nebularis - Vogel, David & Pauwels (2004). Commonly called the Cameron Highlands pit viper and found in West Malaysia (Cameron Highlands).
• T. sabahi - Regenass & Kramer (1981). Commonly called Sabah's bamboo viper and found on Borneo, Indonesia.
• T. truongsonensis - Orlov, Ryabov, Thanh & Cuc (2004). Found in central Vietnam.
• T. venustus - Vogel (1991). Commonly called the beautiful pit viper and found in southern Thailand.
• T. vogeli - David, Vidal & Pauwels (2001). Commonly called Vogel's pit viper and found in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

The genus Trimeresurus sensu lato has been the subject of considerable taxonomic work since 2000, resulting in the recognition of additional genera within this complex. Most authors now recognise the genus Protobothrops for the species cornutus, flavoviridis, jerdonii, kaulbacki, mucrosquamatus, tokarensis, xiangchengensis,^[8][9][10] since these have been shown not to be closely related to other Trimeresurus in recent phylogenetic analyses.

Malhotra and Thorpe (2004)^[9] proposed a radical shake up of the entire genus, splitting Trimeresurus into seven genera. Their proposed arrangement (including species described since 2004) is shown in the table below:

Genus	Species included
Trimeresurus	andalasensis, borneensis, brongersmai, gramineus, malabaricus, puniceus, strigatus, trigonocephalus, wiroti
Cryptelytrops	albolabris, andersonii, cantori, erythrurus, fasciatus, honsonensis (Hon Son Pit Viper), insularis, kanburiensis, labialis, macrops, purpureomaculatus, septentrionalis, venustus
Himalayophis	tibetanus
Parias	flavomaculatus, hageni, malcolmi, mcgregori, schultzei, sumatranus
Peltopelor	macrolepis
Popeia	barati, buniana, fucata, nebularis, popeiorum, sabahi
Viridovipera	gumprechti, medoensis, stejnegeri, truongsonensis, vogeli, yunnanensis

This new arrangement has been followed by many,^[10][11] but not all^[12] subsequent authors.

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 c d} 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 c d} "Trimeresurus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=209553. Retrieved 27 September 2006. 
3. ^ Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
4. ^ U.S. Navy. 1991. Poisonous Snakes of the World. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. ISBN 0-486-26629-X.
5. ^ ^{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.
6. ^ Yang, J.-H., Orlov, N.I. & Wang, Y.-Y. (2011). "A new species of pitviper of the genus Protobothrops from China (Squamata: Viperidae)." Zootaxa 2936: 59-68.
7. ^ Sumontha,M., Kunya,K., S. G. Pauwels,O., Nitikul,A., and Punnadee,S. (2011)."Trimeresurus (Popeia) phuketensis, a New Pitviper (Squamata: Viperidae) from Phuket Island, Southwestern Thailand". Russian Journal of Herpetology. 18;3: 11-17.
8. ^ Kraus, F., Mink, D.G., Brown, W.M., 1996. Crotaline intergeneric relationships based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Copeia, 1996, 763-773.
9. ^ ^{a b} Malhotra, A., Thorpe, R.S., 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.
10. ^ ^{a b} Castoe, T.A., Parkinson, C.L., 2006. Bayesian mixed models and the phylogeny of pitvipers (Viperidae: Serpentes) Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 39, 91-110.
11. ^ Grismer, L.L., J.L. Grismer & J.A. McGuire (2006) A new species of pitviper of the genus Popeia (Squamata: Viperidae) fromPulau Tioman, Pahang, West Malaysia. Zootaxa1305: 1-19.
12. ^ Vogel, G. (2006) Venomous Snakes of Asia/Giftschlangen Asiens. Terralog, Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main

External links

• Trimeresurus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 6 December 2007.
• Trimeresurus at Herpbreeder.com. Accessed 26 September 2006.