You are here » home advanced search Vipera eriwanensis

Vipera eriwanensis (REUSS, 1933)

IUCN Red List - Vipera eriwanensis - Vulnerable, VU

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Vipera eriwanensis?

Add your own observation of
Vipera eriwanensis »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesVipera eriwanensis eriwanensis (REUSS 1933)
Vipera eriwanensis ebneri KNOEPFFLER & SOCHUREK 1955 
Common Names 
SynonymAcridophaga renardi eriwanensis REUSS 1933: 373
Vipera ursinii ebneri KNÖPFLER & SOCHUREK 1955
Vipera ursini renardi — KRAMER 1961: 627 (part.)
Vipera ursinii eriwanensis — JOGER 1984
Vipera ursinii eriwanensis — NILSON et al. 1988
Vipera ursinii eriwanensis — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Vipera eriwanensis — HÖGGREN et al. 1993
Vipera renardi eriwanensis — WELCH 1994: 123
Vipera (Pelias) eriwanensis — NILSON et al. 1999: 104
Vipera ursinii — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 410
Vipera (Acridophaga) eriwanensis — RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al. 2008
Pelias shemakhensis TUNIYEV, ORLOV, TUNIYEV & KIDOV 2013: 140
Pelias shemakheninsis — TUNIYEV et al. 2013: 129 (in error)
Pelias eriwanensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 543
Pelias eriwanensis — TUNIYEV 2016
Pelias schemakhensis — TUNIYEV 2016 (in error)
Pelias shemakhensis kakhetiensis TUNIYEV et al. 2018
Pelias shemakheninsis — TUNIYEV et al. 2019
Vipera eriwanensis — KAMALI 2020: 455
Pelias shemakhensis kakhetiensis — ANANJEVA et al. 2021

Vipera eriwanensis ebneri KNOEPFFLER & SOCHUREK, 1955
Vipera ursinii ebneri KNOEPFFLER & SOCHUREK, 1955
Vipera eriwanensis ebneri — GOLAY et al. 1993
Vipera ebneri — NILSON & ANDRÉN 2001
Vipera (Acridophaga) ebneri — RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al. 2008
Vipera ebneri — TUNIYEV et al. 2010
Vipera eriwanensis ebneri — JOGER 2011 (pers. comm.)
Pelias ebneri — WALLACH et al. 2014: 543
Vipera ebneri — HUTWALKER 2017
Pelias ebneri — TUNIYEV et al. 2018
Pelias ebneri — TUNIYEV et al. 2019x 
DistributionArmenia, NW Iran, NE Turkey, Georgia

Type locality: Yerevan (at 2000 m elevation), Armenia.

ebneri: Iran

kakhetiensis: Georgia; Type locality: Vicinity of village Dedopliszkaro, Fortress Khornabudji, Shirak Plateau (Kakhetia, East Georgia).

shemakhensis: NE Azerbaijan; Type locality: Vicinity of Shemakhan (= Shemakha, north-eastern Azerbaijan  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesNeotype: GNM = Goteborg Natural History Museum Re.ex 5158; designated by Nilson et al. 1999.
Holotype: NMW 14889 [ebneri]
Holotype: ZISP 21720, Herpetological collection of Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, 25.04.1972, Coll. E. A. Erukh (Fig. 11 in Tuniyev et al. 2013) [shemakhensis]
Holotype: SNP 1059 (adult male); paratypes: 6 specimens, SNP 1052 (4 juv.), No 1053 (2 specimens, adult male and adult female) [kakhetiensis] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1599 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: U. JOGER (pers. comm., 1 Aug 2011), suggested to treat V. ebneri as subspecies of V. eriwanensis, see this entry. The status of Pelias shemakhensis and V. ebeneri are questionable with low genetic divergence to V. eriwanensis (1% or less) (Freitas et al. 2020). Hence, Freitas et al. 2020 also included P. ebneri within V. eriwanensis; subspecies status may be the most appropriate solution for both taxa.

NCBI TaxID: 2493205 [shemakhensis]

Diagnosis (shemakhensis). Small viper, different from other species by minimal number of wings in zigzag (54.8), by the presence of specimens with unique combination from four canthal shields under the absence of apicals. Brown cervical zigzag with small wings is located on the dirty- white back. On each side of body dark shallow patches are located chequer wise in 2 – 3 rows, unlike one row of large dark patches mainly typical for other representa- tives of “ursinii” complex in the Caucasian Isthmus.

Distribution: For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality in Armenia.

Pelias shemakhensis was named after the type locality, the town and district of Shemakha. 
References
  • Ananjeva N.B., Gabaev V.N., Iremashvil iG.N., Lotiev K.Yu., Petrova T.V. 2021. The taxonomic status of the vipers of the Pelias (kaznakovi) complex in the middle-flow of the Kura River basin in the East Transcaucasia. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 2021, 325(1): 3–33 · - get paper here
  • Arakelyan, Marine S.; Felix D. Danielyan, Claudia Corti, Roberto Sindaco, and Alan E. Leviton 2011. The Herpetofauna of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. SSAR, Salt Lake City, 154 pp. [ISBN: 978-0-916984-84-7.]
  • Arıkan, H., Göçmen, B., Kumlutaş, Y., Alpagut-Keskin, N., Ilgaz, Ç & Yıldız, M.Z. 2008. Electrophoretic characterisation of the venom samples obtained from various Anatolian snakes (Serpentes: Colubridae, Viperidae, Elapidae). North-Western Journal of Zoology 4 (1): 16-28 - get paper here
  • Arıkan, Hüseyin; Yusuf Kumlutas, Öguz Türkozan, Ibrahim Baran, Çetin Ilgaz 2004. The morphology and size of blood cells of some viperid snakes from Turkey. Amphibia-Reptilia 25 (4): 465-470 - get paper here
  • Baran, I.; Tok, C.V.; Olgun, K.; Iret, F. & Avci, Z. 2005. On Viperid (Serpentes: Sauria) Specimens Collected from Northeastern Anatolia. Turkish Journal of Zoology 29: 225-228 - get paper here
  • Engelmann, W.E. et al. 1993. Lurche und Kriechtiere Europas. Neumann Verlag (Radebeul, Germany), 440 pp.
  • Freitas, Inês; Sylvain Ursenbacher, Konrad Mebert, Oleksandr Zinenko, Silke Schweiger, Wolfgang Wüster, José C. Brito, Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailovic ́, Bálint Halpern, Soumia Fahd, Xavier Santos, Juan M. Pleguezuelos, Ulrich Joger, Nikolay Orlov, Edv 2020. Evaluating taxonomic inflation: towards evidence-based species delimitation in Eurasian vipers (Serpentes: Viperinae). Amphibia-Reptilia 41 (3): 285–311 - get paper here
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248
  • Geniez, Philippe 2018. Snakes of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Princeton University Press, 384 pp. - get paper here
  • Höggren,M.; Nilson,G.; Andrén,C.; Orlov,N.L. & Tuniyev,B.S. 1993. Vipers of the Caucasus: Natural history and systematic review. Herpetological Natural History 1 (2): 11-19
  • HUTWALKER, A. 2017. Herpetologische Eindrücke einer Wanderreise im zentralen Elbursgebirge, Nordiran. Sauria 39 (3): 25-30 - get paper here
  • Iankoshvili, G., & Tarkhnishvili, D. 2021. Distribution of snakes (Reptilia: Serpentes) in Georgia: Social media networks help to improve scientific knowledge. Zoology in the Middle East, 1-12 - get paper here
  • Joger, U. 1984. The venomous snakes of the Near and Middle East. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, A 12. Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden.
  • Kamali, Kamran 2020. A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Iran. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (www.chimaira.de). 574 pp.
  • Kramer, E. 1961. Variation, Sexualdimorphismus, Wachstum und Taxonomie von Vipera ursinii (Bonaparte, 1835) und Vipera kaznakovi Nikolskij, 1909. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 68 (4): 627-725 - get paper here
  • Kukushkin, Oleg; Tavakkul Iskenderov, Saxib Axmedov, Sabina Bunyatova and Oleksandr Zinenko. 2012. Additions to the distribution of Vipera eriwanensis (Serpentes: Viperidae) in Transcaucasia, with comments on the identity of vipers in northeastern Azerbaijan. Herpetology Notes 6: 423-427
  • Kutrup, Bilal ; Ufuk Bülbül & Nurhayat YILMAZ 2005. On the Distribution and Morphology of the Steppe Viper, Vipera eriwanensis (REUSS, 1933), from Gavur Mountain (Gümüßhane). Turkish Journal of Zoology 29: 321-325 - get paper here
  • Mallow, D. Ludwig, D. & Nilson, G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Krieger, Malabar, Florida, 410 pp. [review in HR 35: 200, Reptilia 35: 74]
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
  • Mebert, Konrad; Bayram Göçmen, Mert Karış, Naşit İğci, and Sylvain Ursenbacher 2016. The Valley of Four Viper Species and a Highland of Dwarfs: Fieldwork on Threatened Vipers in Northeastern Turkey. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 23 (1): 1-9 - get paper here
  • Mebert, Konrad; Bayram Göçmen, Naşİt İğcİ, Mehmet Anil Oğuz, Mert Kariş & Sylvain Ursenbacher 2015. New records and search for contact zones among parapatric vipers in the genus Vipera (barani, kaznakovi, darevskii, eriwanensis), Montivipera (wagneri, raddei), and Macrovipera (lebetina) in northeastern Anatolia. Herpetological Bulletin (133) - get paper here
  • Mebert, Konrad; Nasit Igci, Bayram Göçmen & Sylvain Ursenbacher 2014. Vipern der Nordost-Türkei: Genfluss und Umweltfaktoren zwischen den Taxa des Vipera-barani-kaznakovi-darevskii-Komplexes. Terraria-Elaphe 2014 (5): 58-67 - get paper here
  • Nilson, G., Andren, C., & Flärdh, B. 1988. Die Vipern der Türkei. Salamandra 24 (4): 215-247 - get paper here
  • Nilson,G.; TUNIYEV,B.; ANDRÉN,C. & ORLOV,N. 1999. Vipers of Caucasus: Taxonomic considerations. Kaupia (Darmstadt) (8): 103-106
  • Orlov,N.L. & B.S. Tuniyev. 1990. Three Species in the Vipera kaznakowi Complex (Eurosiberian Group) in the Caucasus: Their Present Distribution, Possile Genesis, and Phylogeny. Asiatic Herpetological Research 3: 1-36. - get paper here
  • Phelps, T. 2010. Old World Vipers. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 558 pp. [critical review in Sauria 33 (3): 19 and HR 43: 503]
  • Rajabizadeh, M. 2018. Snakes of Iran. [in Farsi] Tehran: Iranshenasi, 496 pp. [2017 ?] - get paper here
  • RASTEGAR-POUYANI, NASRULLAH; HAJI GHOLI KAMI, MEHDI RAJABZADEH, SOHEILA SHAFIEI AND STEVEN CLEMENT ANDERSON 2008. Annotated Checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Iran. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 4 (1): 7-30
  • Reuss, T. 1933. Fortsetzung und Schluss der Originalberichte. Nachr. Bl. Aquar. Terrar.-Ver. 1933: 372-373
  • Sindaco, R.; Alberto Venchi & Cristina Grieco 2013. The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2: Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, with an Update to Volume 1. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 543 pp. - get paper here
  • Tuniyev B.S. 2016. Rare species of shield-head vipers in the Caucasus. Nature Conservation Research 1 (3): 11–25 - get paper here
  • Tuniyev B.S., Iremashvili G.N., Petrova T.V., Kravchenko M.V. 2018. Rediscovery of the steppe viper in Georgia. Proc. Zool. Inst. RAS 322 (2): 87–107 - get paper here
  • Tuniyev B.S., Tuniyev S.B., Avcı A., Ilgaz Ç. 2014. Herpetological studies in Eastern and North-Eastern Turkey. Current Studies in Herpetology 14 (1/2): 44–53. Резюме - get paper here
  • Tuniyev, B.; Nilson, G. & Andrén, C. 2010. A new species of viper (Reptilia, Viperidae) from the Altay and Saur Mountains, Kazakhstan. Russ. J. Herpetol. 17 (2): 110-120 - get paper here
  • Tuniyev, B.S.; A. Avcı, Ç. Ilgaz, K. Olgun, T.V. Petrova, S.Yu. Bodrov, P. Geniez and A. Teynié 2018. ON TAXONOMIC STATUS OF SHIELD-HEAD VIPERS FROM TURKISH LESSER CAUCASUS AND EAST ANATOLIA. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 322 (1): 3–44 - get paper here
  • Tuniyev, B.S.; N.L. Orlov, N.B. Ananjeva and A.L. Aghasyan 2019. Snakes of the Caucasus: taxonomic diversity, distribution, conservation. St. Petersburg, Moscow. KMK Scientific Press. 2019. 276 pp. - get paper here
  • Tuniyev, S. B.; N. Orlov, B. Tuniyev, A. Kidov 2013. On the Taxonomical Status of Steppe Viper from Foothills of the South Macroslope of the East Caucasus. Russ. J. Herpetol. 20 (2): 129-146 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator