You are here » home advanced search Bitis heraldica

Bitis heraldica (BOCAGE, 1889)

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Bitis heraldica?

Add your own observation of
Bitis heraldica »

We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Angolan adder; Bocage's Horned Adder (after FRANK & RAMUS 1995). 
SynonymVipera heraldica BOCAGE 1889
Bitis heraldica — HARDING & WELCH 1980
Bitis heraldica — WELCH 1994: 27
Bitis heraldica — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 364
Bitis heraldica — DOBIEY & VOGEL 2007
Bitis (Calechidna) heraldica — WITTENBERG et al. 2014
Bitis heraldica — WALLACH et al. 2014: 93
Bitis (Calechidna) heraldica — BARLOW et al. 2019
Bitis (Macrocerastes) heraldica — CERIACO et al. 2020 
DistributionC Angola

Type locality: “affluents du Cunene, entre Ie 13° et 14° parallele al'est de Caconda." [Calai River (tributary of the Kunene), Cacanda, Angola].  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: MB 2127 (Museu Bocage, destroyed). 
Diagnosis 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: Sometimes considered to be synonymous with Bitis peringueyi BOULENGER 1896.

Photo in KUCHARZEWSKI 2011.

This species is hornless.

Distribution: see map in Ceriaco et al. 2020: Fig. 1. 
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
  • Bocage, J.V.B. de 1889. Mélanges erpétologiques. II. Sur une vipère apparemment nouvelle d'Angola. Journ. Sci., Lisboa (2), 2: 127-128 - get paper here
  • Ceríaco, Luis MP; Krystal A Tolley, Mariana P Marques, Matthew P Heinicke & Aaron M Bauer 2020. A dwarf among giants: phylogenetic position of the elusive Angolan Adder (Bitis heraldica) and biogeographic affinities of Angolan Afromontane regions,. African Journal of Herpetology, DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2020.1782484 - get paper here
  • Chippaux, Jean-Philippe & Kate Jackson 2019. Snakes of Central and Western Africa. Johns Hopkins University Press, 448 pp. [detaileld review in HR 51 (1): 161] - get paper here
  • Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here
  • Gonçalves, F M P; Braine, D; Bauer, A M; Valério, H M; Marques, M P & Ceríaco, L M P; 2019. Rediscovery of the poorly known Angola Adder, Bitis heraldica (Bocage, 1889) (Serpentes: Viperidae): new records, live photographs, and first case history of envenomation. Herpetological Review 50 (2): 241-246 - get paper here
  • KUCHARZEWSKI, C 2011. OLD WORLD VIPERS. A natural history of the Azemiopinae and Viperinae von Tony PHELPS – Anmerkungen, Ergänzungen, Korrekturen. Sauria 33 (3): 19-42 - get paper here
  • Marques, Mariana P.; Luis M. P. Ceríaco , David C. Blackburn , and Aaron M. Bauer 2018. Diversity and Distribution of the Amphibians and Terrestrial Reptiles of Angola -- Atlas of Historical and Bibliographic Records (1840–2017). Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (Ser. 4) 65: 1-501 (Supplement II)
  • 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
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
  • Mertens, R. 1958. Bitis heraldica, eine oft verkannte Otter aus Angola. Senckenbergiana biologica 39 (3/4): 145-148
  • Phelps, T. 2010. Old World Vipers. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 558 pp. [critical review in Sauria 33 (3): 19 and HR 43: 503]
  • Ukuwela, K.D.B., de Silva, A., Sivaruban, A. et al. 2022. Diversity, distribution, and natural history of the marine snakes of Sri Lanka. Marine Biodiversity 52, 24 (2022) - 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.
  • 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
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator