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Bitis albanica HEWITT, 1937

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Albany Adder 
SynonymBitis cornuta albanica HEWITT 1937: 76
Bitis albanica — BRANCH 1999: 57
Bitis albanica — DOBIEY & VOGEL 2007
Bitis (Calechidna) albanica — WITTENBERG et al. 2014
Bitis albanica — WALLACH et al. 2014: 91
Bitis (Calechidna) albanica — BARLOW et al. 2019 
DistributionRepublic of South Africa (Eastern Cape Province from Port Elizabeth to near Committees)

Type locality: Kleinpoort, near Committees, 25 km ENE of Grahamstown (33°14’S, 26°46’ E).  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesLectotype: PEM R8279 (previously AM 6860); Paralectoypes: (n=4): PEM R8278 (formerly AMG 7135); same details as lectotype; PEM R8281 (formerly AMG 664); Brakkloof, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa; G. White, 1 October 1892; PEM R8280 (formerly AMG 453); no locality (Springvale or Brakkloos), Eastern Cape Province, South Africa; PEM R1183; The Dene (“Die Duine), Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Bitis albanica has a bold grey-white-black coloration, with much lower numbers of dorsal blotches than either B. cornuta or B. armata. Males also differ from males of the latter species in having short tails, with the hemipenis extending only to 6th-8th subcaudals. It differs from B. inornata in coloration, and in having high circumorbital counts but lower ventral and subcaudal counts. Its range approaches closest to that of B. rubido, from which it differs in having lower numbers of dorsal blotches, a very different coloration, and also lower ventrals. (Branch 1999) 
CommentVenomous!

Conservation: one of the 30 most endangered viper species (Maritz et al. 2016), (known only from 8 specimens). 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality. Albany, South Africa was a district in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Grahamstown was traditionally the administrative capital, cultural centre and largest town of the Albany district.] 
References
  • Barlow A, Wüster W, Kelly CMR, Branch WR, Phelps T, Tolley KA. 2019. Ancient habitat shifts and organismal diversification are decoupled in the African viper genus Bitis (Serpentes: Viperidae). J Biogeogr. 46: 1234– 1248 - get paper here
  • Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp.
  • Branch, W.R. 1999. Dwarf adders of the Bitis cornuta-inornata complex (Serptentes: Viperidae) in Southern Africa. Kaupia (Darmstadt) (8): 39-63
  • CONRADIE, WERNER; WILLIAM R. BRANCH, & GILLIAN WATSON 2019. Type specimens in the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, including the historically important Albany Museum collection. Part 2: Reptiles (Squamata). Zootaxa 4576 (1): 001–045 - get paper here
  • Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here
  • Hewitt, J. 1937. A guide to the vertebrate fauna of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, Part II: reptile, amphibians, and freshwater fishes. Grahamstown, vii + 141 pp.
  • Lenk,P.; Herrmann,H. W.; Joger,U. & Wink,M. 1999. Phylogeny and taxonomic subdivision of Bitis (Reptilia: Viperidae) based on molecular evidence. Kaupia (Darmstadt) (8): 31-38 - get paper here
  • Maritz, Bryan; Johannes Penner, Marcio Martins, Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailović, Stephen Spear, Laura R.V. Alencar, Jesús Sigala-Rodriguez, Kevin Messenger, Rulon W. Clark, Pritpal Soorae, Luca Luiselli, Chris Jenkins, Harry W. Greene 2016. Identifying global priorities for the conservation of vipers. Biological Conservation, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.004 - get paper here
  • Martínez del Mármol, G. 2020. The phenotypic variability of the Genus Bitis Gray 1842, with remarks in its resemblance to other vipers. In: Martínez, G., León, R., Jiménez-Robles, O., González De la Vega, J. P., Gabari, V., Rebollo, B., Sánchez-Tójar, A., Fernández-Cardenete, J. R., Gállego, J. (Eds.). Amphibians and Reptiles of Morocco and Western Sahara - 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]
  • 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.
  • Wittenberg, Rod D. & Robert C. Jadin & Allyson M. Fenwick & Ronald L. Gutberlet Jr. 2014. Recovering the evolutionary history of Africa’s most diverse viper genus: morphological and molecular phylogeny of Bitis (Reptilia: Squamata: Viperidae). Org Divers Evol, DOI 10.1007/s13127-014-0185-3
 
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