Trimeresurus stejnegeri

Trimeresurus stejnegeri
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae
Genus: Trimeresurus
Species: T. stejnegeri
Binomial name
Trimeresurus stejnegeri
Schmidt, 1925
Synonyms
  • Trimeresurus stejnegeri
    Schmidt, 1925
  • Trimeresurus gramineus stejnegeri — Stejneger, 1927
  • Trimeresurus gramineus formosensis Maki, 1931
  • Trimeresurus gramineus kodairai Maki, 1931
  • Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri — Pope, 1935
  • Trimeresurus stejnegeri makii Klemmer, 1963
  • Trimeresurus stejnegeri formosensis — Welch, 1988
  • Trimeresurus stejnegeri kodairai
    — Welch, 1988[2]
  • Trimeresurus stejnegeri
    — Cox et al., 1998
  • Viridovipera stejnegeri
    — Malhotra & Thorpe, 2004
  • Trimeresurus (Viridovipera) stejnegeri — David et al., 2011[3]
Common names: Stejneger's pit viper, Chinese green tree viper,[4] bamboo viper, Chinese tree viper,[5] and others.

Trimeresurus stejnegeri is a species of venomous pit viper endemic to Asia. Three subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.[6]

Etymology

The specific name, stejnegeri, is in honor of Leonhard Hess Stejneger, Norwegian-born American herpetologist at the Smithsonian Institution for over 60 years.[7]

Description

Grows to a maximum total length of 75 centimetres (30 in), with a tail length of 14.5 centimetres (5.7 in). The males have hemipenes that are short and spinose beyond the bifurcation.[8]

Scalation: dorsal scales in 21 longitudinal rows at midbody. 9-11 upper labials, of which the first are separated from nasal scales by a distinct suture. The supraoculars are single, narrow, and sometimes divided by a transverse suture. There are 11-16 scales in a line between the supraoculars. The ventrals number 150-174, and the subcaudals are 54-77. All of the subcaudals are paired.[8]

Color pattern: above bright to dark green, below pale green to whitish, the two separated by a bright bicolored orange or brown (below) and white (above) (males) or bicolored or white only (females) ventrolateral stripe, which occupies the whole of the outermost scale row and a portion of the second row.[8]

Common names

Bamboo viper, Chinese tree viper,[5] bamboo snake, Chinese green tree viper, Chinese bamboo viper, Stejneger's pit viper, Stejneger's palm viper, red tail snake,[4] Stejneger's bamboo pitviper,[9] Formosan bamboo viper (for T. gramineus formosensis), Taiwan green tree viper (for T. s. formosensis).[10]

Geographic range

Assam (India) and Nepal through Burma, Thailand and Laos to China (Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Yunnan) and Taiwan.[2] Leviton et al. (2003) also mention Vietnam.[8] The type locality was originally listed as "Shaowu, Fukien Province, China", and later emended to "N.W. Fukien Province" by Pope & Pope (1933) (Fukien being the former romanization of Fujian).[2]

Venom

It has a potent hemotoxin. The wound usually feels extremely painful, as if it had been branded with a hot iron, and the pain does not subside until about 24 hours after being bitten. Within a few minutes of being bitten, the surrounding flesh dies and turns black, highlighting the puncture wounds. The wound site quickly swells, and the skin and muscle become black due to necrosis. The size of the necrotic area depends on the amount of venom injected and the depth of the bite.

Subspecies

Subspecies[6] Taxon author[6] Common name[9] Geographic range[9]
T. s. chenbihuii Zhao, 1997 Chen's pit viper China, Hainan Island: on Mount Diaoluo at 225–290 m elevation (Lingshui County) and on Wuzhi Mountain at 500 m elevation (Qiongzhong County).
T. s. stejnegeri Schmidt, 1925 Stejneger's pit viper China (in eastern Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong and Guangxi), Taiwan, and Vietnam.
T. s. yunnanensis Schmidt, 1925 Yunnan pit viper India (in West Bengal, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim) and Burma.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Guo P, Jiang J, Lau MWN, Zhou Z (2012). "Trimeresurus stejnegeri ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  3. ↑ The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  4. 1 2 U.S. Navy. 1991. Poisonous Snakes of the World. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. ISBN 0-486-26629-X.
  5. 1 2 Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
  6. 1 2 3 "Trimeresurus stejnegeri ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
  7. ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Trimeresurus stejnegeri, pp. 252-253).
  8. 1 2 3 4 Leviton AE, Wogan GOU, Koo MS, Zug GR, Lucas RS, Vindum JV. 2003. The Dangerously Venomous Snakes of Myanmar, Illustrated Checklist with Keys. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 54 (24): 407-462.
  9. 1 2 3 Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. Asian Pitvipers. First Edition. Berlin: Geitje Books. Berlin. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4.
  10. ↑ 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.

Further reading

  • Creer S, Malhotra A, Thorpe RS, Chou WH. 2001. Multiple causation of phylogeographical pattern as revealed by nested clade analysis of the bamboo viper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri) within Taiwan. Molecular Ecology 10 (8): 1967-1981.
  • Malhotra, Anita; Thorpe, Roger S. 2004. Maximizing information in systematic revisions: a combined molecular and morphological analysis of a cryptic green Pit Viper complex (Trimeresurus stejnegeri). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 82 (2): 219.
  • Parkinson CL. 1999. Molecular systematics and biogeographical history of Pit Vipers as determined by mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences. Copeia 1999 (3): 576-586.
  • Peng G, Fuji Z. 2001. Comparative studies on hemipenes of four species of Trimeresurus (sensu stricto) (Serpentes: Crotalinae). Amphibia-Reptilia 22 (1): 113-117.
  • Schmidt KP. 1925. New Reptiles and a New Salamander from China. American Museum Novitates (157): 1-5. ("Trimeresurus stejnegeri, new species", p. 4).
  • Tu M-C et al. 2000. Phylogeny, Taxonomy, and Biogeography of the Oriental Pit Vipers of the Genus Trimeresurus (Reptilia: Viperidae: Crotalinae): A Molecular Perspective. Zoological Science 17: 1147-1157.
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