Protobothrops trungkhanhensis ORLOV, RYABOV & NGUYEN, 2009
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Protobothrops trungkhanhensis?
Protobothrops trungkhanhensis
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| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Trungkhanh Pitviper Vietnamese: Ran luc trung khanh. Chinese: 越北原矛头蝮 |
| Synonym | Protobothrops trungkhanhensis ORLOV, RYABOV & NGUYEN 2009 Protobothrops trungkhanhensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 573 |
| Distribution | Vietnam (Cao Bang), China, elevation 500-700 m. Type locality: Trung Khanh Nature Reserve, Trung Khanh district, Cao Bang province, N-E Vietnam, elevation 600 m. |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: ZISP 25351 (Fn 123); an adult male, collected in September 2008 by Tao Nguyen Thien, Nikolai L. Orlov, Sergei A. Ryabov. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Extremely small size for Protobothrops, up to 733 mm (SVL adult male is up to 591 mm, Lcd142 mm; SVL female is up to 576 mm, Lcd 123 mm); body slender, slightly compressed; V -188194; Scd - 75 - 76 pairs; anal plate is entire. Scale rows oblique, rhomboid, strongly keeled, including first row of dorsal scales; Sql - 19, Sq2 - 19, Sq3 - 17 rows. The head is very small, triangular and clearly distinct from the neck, covered by very small, convex shields of irregular shape on the upper surface. Supralabials - 8 - 9, infralabials -11 - 12; the first supralabial is clearly. divided from large N; the rostral shield forms isosceles triangle with truncated top; SO - 2 (an terior very large, posterior very small); SubO - I, thin and very long; PrO - 3; PtO - 1; symphysial relatively large, triangular; anterior genial shields very large, posterior genial shields small. Nostril very large, trapeziform. The dorsal coloration of the body and the head of males and females identically are grayish-brown. Across body and tail pass 76 - 84 dark brown bands with rough edges, often broken into separate spots most intensive colored in the middle of dorsum. The belly is dark gray, almost black close-by tail; tip of tail without any elements of red coloration (from ORLOV et al. 2009). |
| Comment | Venomous! Chen et al. (2013) found specimens in Guangxi that are intermediary between Protobothrops maolanensis and P. trungkhanhensis. Illustration: cover photo on Herpetological Review 43 (1) [2012]. Distribution: see map in Guo et a. 2016: 383 (Fig. 1). Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
| Etymology | The species received the name derived from the name (in Vietnamese) of Trung Khanh Town and Trung Khanh Nature Reserve, Cao Bang province, N-E Vietnam. |
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