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Acanthophis pyrrhus BOULENGER, 1898

IUCN Red List - Acanthophis pyrrhus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Elapoidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Desert Death Adder 
SynonymAcanthophis pyrrhus BOULENGER 1898: 75
Acanthophis antarcticus pyrrhus
Acanthophis pyrrhus — COGGER 2000: 634
Aggressiserpens pyrrhus — WELLS 2002
Acanthophis pyrrhus armstrongi WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985
Aggressiserpens armstrongi — WELLS 2002
Acanthophis pyrrhus — WILSON & SWAN 2010
Acanthophis pyrrhus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 4
Acanthophis pyrrhus — ELLIS et al. 2021
Acanthophis pyrrhus — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024: 83 
DistributionAustralia (Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia)

Type locality: Station Point, N. T. [Australia]  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.18.62, purchased E. Gerrard 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions are available for collaborators and contributors. We will relaease that material sometime next year. Please contact us if you need any of this data earlier than that. 
CommentVenomous!

Distribution: see map of localities in Aplin & Donnellan 1999: 288 (Fig. 3) 
EtymologyNamed after Pyrrhus (318-272 B.C.), who was a King in ancient Greece, but the snake is so named for the literal meaning of the word, which is "flamelike." 
References
  • Aplin, K. P. & Donnellan,S.C. 1999. An extended description of the Pilbara death adder, Acanthophis wellsi Hoser (Serpentes: Elapidae), with notes on the desert death adder, A.Pyrrhus Boulenger, and identification of a possible hybrid zone. Rec. West. Austr. Mus. 19: 277-298 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1898. Description of a new death adder (Acanthophis) from central Australia. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7) 2: 75 - get paper here
  • Brischoux F, Pizzatto L, Shine R. 2010. Insights into the adaptive significance of vertical pupil shape in snakes. J Evol Biol. 23(9): 1878-85. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Eipper T & Eipper S 2024. SNAKES OF AUSTRALIA. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 368 pp. - get paper here
  • ELLIS, RYAN J.; HINRICH KAISER, SIMON T. MADDOCK, PAUL DOUGHTY & WOLFGANG WÜSTER 2021. An evaluation of the nomina for death adders (Acanthophis Daudin, 1803) proposed by Wells & Wellington (1985), and confirmation of A. cryptamydros Maddock et al., 2015 as the valid name for the Kimberley death adder Zootaxa 4995 (1): 161–172 - get paper here
  • Jolly, C., Schembri, B., & Macdonald, S. 2023. Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Northern Territory. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne - get paper here
  • MADDOCK, SIMON T.; RYAN J. ELLIS, PAUL DOUGHTY, LAWRENCE A. SMITH & WOLFGANG WÜSTER 2015. A new species of death adder (Acanthophis: Serpentes: Elapidae) from north-western Australia. Zootaxa 4007 (3): 301–326 - get paper here
  • Mirtschin, P., Rasmussen, A.R. & Weinstein, S.A. 2017. Australia’s Dangerous snakes. CSIRO Publishing, 424 pp. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Schulz, K.-D. & W. Grossmann 1990. Das Portrait: Acanthophis pyrrhus BOULENGER. Sauria 12 (2): 1-2 - get paper here
  • Shine R, Spencer CL, Keogh JS 2014. Morphology, Reproduction and Diet in Australian and Papuan Death Adders (Acanthophis, Elapidae). PLoS ONE 9(4): e94216 - get paper here
  • Storr, G. M. 1981. The genus Acanthophis (Serpentes : Elapidae) in Western Australia. Rec. West. Austr. Mus. 9: 203-210 - 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.
  • Wells, Richard W. 2002. Taxonomy the Genus Acanthophis (Reptilia: Elapidae) in Australia. Australian Biodiversity Record (5): 1-16
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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