Bitis rubida BRANCH, 1997
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Bitis rubida?
Bitis rubida
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| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Red Adder |
| Synonym | Bitis rubida BRANCH 1997 Bitis cornuta albanica HEWITT 1937: 76 (part.) Bitis inornata FITZSIMONS 1946: 358 Bitis cornuta inornata — UNDERWOOD 1968: 84 Bitis cornuta albanica — FITZSIMONS 1962 Bitis cornuta cornuta — HAACKE 1975 Bitis caudalis VISSER 1979 (part) Bitis cornuta inornata — BROADLEY 1983 (part) Bitis cornuta-inornata complex — BURGER 1993 Bitis inornata complex — BRANCH & BAUER 1995 Bitis (Calechidna) rubida — LENK et al. 1999 Bitis rubida — BRANCH 1999: 53 Bitis rubida — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 365 Bitis rubida — DOBIEY & VOGEL 2007 Bitis (Calechidna) rubida — WITTENBERG et al. 2014 Bitis rubida — WALLACH et al. 2014: 94 Bitis (Calechidna) rubida — BARLOW et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | South Africa (W Cape Province) Type locality: Jeep track above Farm Driehoek, Cedarberg Mountains, Western Cape Province, South Africa (32°25’ 44’’ S, 19° 12’ 30’’ E) |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: PEM R12582, adult male. Paratypes: (n=6) PEM R4457, adult male, near Crystal Pool, Cedarberg Mountains, Western Cape Province, South Africa (32°20’ 55’’ S, 19° 08’ 10’’ E), alt. 1340 m; 3219AC; April 1985; S. A. Botha. PEM R12583, adult male, Welbedacht, Cedarberg Mountains, Western Cape Province, South Africa (32°25’ 45’’ S, 19° 11’ 00’’ E), 3219AC; October 1988; J. van Deventer. PEM R12581, subadult male, on footpath from hut to Crystal Pool, Cedarberg Mountains, Western Cape Province, South Africa (32°20’ 55’’ S, 19° 06’ 49’’ E), alt. 1320 m; 3219AC; September 1986; S. A. Botha. PEM R5048 (CDNEC 10193), adult male, Cedarberg (village), 30 km from Algeria forestry station (approx. 32°31' S, 19° 16’ E), 3219CB; 17 May 1990, M. Burger (DOR). PEM 8861, adult female, 3 km N of Veepos, Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area, Western Cape Province, South Africa (32° 58’ 10’’ S, 19° 03’ 04’’ E); 3219CC; March 1994; J. van Deventer. SAM 46282, adult female, below Sneeuberg Hut ( =Sneeukop Hut), Cedarberg, Western Cape Province, South Africa (32° 20’ S, 19° 20’ E); 3219 AB; 15 October 1983. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: “Bitis rubida is characterized by lacking, or having greatly reduced, elongate scales (*horns') in the supraorbital region, and by having a drab, usually reddish, dorsal colouration. It can be distinguished from other small Bits by various scutellation features. It differs from B. xeropaga in having fewer ASR than MSR (ASR equal to or greater in number than MSR in B. xeropaga; Haacke 1975), and lower ventral scale counts in both sexes (B. xeropaga males 147-154, mean 151.5; females 151-155, mean 152.4; Haacke 1975). It differs from B. atropos in having a raised supraorbital ridge. It differs from sympatric and southern populations of Bitis cornuta in having lower ventral scale counts in both sexes, fewer circumorbitals, and usually 29 MSR. Bitis cornuta usually has 27 MSR and a slightly higher number of dorsal blotches. It also differs from B. rubida in always having prominent supraorbital a 'horns' and usually a contrasting colour pattern of grey, white and black (reddish in a population near Lang Hoogte, 35 km east Kleinsee). Bitis rubida does not occur in sympatry with B. atropoides, which is restricted to coastal regions of the south-western Cape. The latter has much lower ventral scale counts (115-128), slightly lower subcaudal counts and rictals, usually 27 MSR, and a higher number of circumorbitals. B. atropoides also usually has obvious supraorbital 'horns' (although these are less well developed than in B. cornuta), as well as a grey-black-white colouration (that is less well defined than that of B. cornuta). Bitis inornata and B. albanica are restricted to the Eastern Cape Province and are well isolated from the western taxa, including B. rubida. The two eastern species are distinguished by having short tails in males, in which the hemipenes reach only the 6-7th subcaudal (9-10 subcaudal in the other taxa). Supraocular 'horns' are greatly reduced or absent in B. albanica, which also has a bold, contrasting, grey-black-white colour pattern, with fewer dorsal blotches than in the western taxa. Bitis inornata completely lacks supraorbital 'horns', and has a very drab yellowish-brown coloration, in which the dorsal blotches are greatly reduced or absent. The eastern taxa are allopatric and separated from one another by 150 km.” (Branch 1997) |
| Comment | Venomous! Sympatry: Bitis cornuta and Bitis atropos on the upper slopes and summit of the Cedarberg, and with the latter on the Swartberg. The species was previously discussed and illustrated (as the Cedarberg population of Bitis inornatus) by Spawls and Branch (1995). |
| Etymology | From the Latin for reddish. alluding to the general colouration of specirnens, particularly from the Cedarberg region. |
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