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Craspedocephalus trigonocephalus (DONNDORFF, 1798)

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Ceylon Pit Viper, Sri Lankan Green pitviper
G: Ceylon-Lanzenotter 
SynonymColuber capite-triangulatus LACEPEDE 1789
Coluber capitetriangulatus — BONNATERRE 1790
Coluber Trigonocephalus DONNDORFF 1798
Vipera trigonocephala LATREILLE in SONNINI & LATREILLE 1802: 332
Trigonocephalus nigromarginatus KUHL 1820 (fide SMITH 1943)
Trigonocephalus sagittiformis SCHINZ 1822
Megaera olivacea GRAY 1842: 49 (fide SMITH 1943)
? Bothrops nigro-marginatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1515
Megaera trigonocephala — GÜNTHER 1859: 231
Trimeresurus capitetriangulatus — HOGE & ROMANO-HOGE 1981
Lachesis trigonocephalus — BOULENGER 1896: 559
Trimeresurus trigonocephalus — GÜNTHER 1864
Trimeresurus trigonocephalus — SMITH 1943: 506
Trimeresurus trigonocephalus — WELCH 1994: 117
Trimeresurus trigonocephalus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 347
Trimeresurus trigonocephalus— TU et al. 2000
Trimeresurus trigonocephalus — MALHOTRA & THORPE 2004
Trimeresurus (Craspedocephalus) trigonocephalus — DAVID et al. 2011
Craspedocephalus trigonocephalus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 188
Craspedocephalus trigonocephalus — GUO et al. 2018
Craspedocephalus trigonocephalus — MALLIK et al. 2021
Peltopelor trigonocephalus — MIRZA et al. 2023
Peltopelor trigonocephalus — SILVA et al. 2023
Craspedocephalus (Peltopelor) trigonocephalus — IDIIATULLINA et al. 2023 (by implication) 
DistributionSri Lanka (elevation below 1000 m)

Type locality: originally given as “Habitat in Africae regno Whida”, in error. Given as Ile S. Eustache” by SONNINI & LATREILLE (1801: 332), according to DAVID & INEICH 1999: 292.  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesTypes: BMNH 1946.1.17.62-63 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1490 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: ICZN, 1987, Opinion 1463 ruled that all editions of Lacepede' s Histoire Naturelle des Serpens are unavailable works. For a discussion see Dubois et al. 2021 who argue that capitetriangulatus BONNATERRE 1790 is the correct name for this species.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
References
  • Botejue, W. Madhava S.; Jayantha Wattavidanage 2012. Herpetofaunal diversity and distribution in Kalugala proposed forest reserve, Western province of Sri Lanka. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 5 (2): 65-80(e38). - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Das, I. & De Silva, A. 2005. Photographic guide to snakes and other reptiles of Sri Lanka. New Holland Publishers, 144 pp.
  • DAVID, PATRICK; GERNOT VOGEL & ALAIN DUBOIS 2011. On the need to follow rigorously the Rules of the Code for the subsequent designation of a nucleospecies (type species) for a nominal genus which lacked one: the case of the nominal genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 (Reptilia: Squamata: Viperidae). Zootaxa 2992: 1–51 - get paper here
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  • DUBOIS, ALAIN; THIERRY FRÉTEY; OLIVIER LORVELEC; ANNEMARIE OHLER 2021. The nomenclatural status of the amphibian and reptile nomina introduced by La Cepède in his Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes Ovipares et des Serpens, with comments on various questions of zoological nomenclature. Bionomina 23: 1-180 - get paper here
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