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Cerastes cerastes (LINNAEUS, 1758)

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Serpentes (snakes) 
SubspeciesCerastes cerastes cerastes (LINNAEUS 1758)
Cerastes cerastes hoofieni WERNER & SIVAN in WERNER et al. 1999 
Common NamesE: Desert Horned Viper
G: Hornviper 
SynonymCerastes cerastes cerastes (LINNAEUS 1758)
Coluber Cerastes LINNAEUS 1758: 217
Cerastes cornutus FORSKAL 1775 (nom. nud.)
Coluber Cerastes — SHAW & NODDER 1792: plate 122
Vipera cerastes — BOETTGER 1880: 169
Cerastes cornutus BOULENGER 1896
Cerastes cerastes mutila DOMERGUE 1901
Aspis cerastes — SCHMIDT 1939
Cerastes cerastes — HAAS 1957
Cerastes cerastes karlhartli SOCHUREK 1974 (nom. nud.)
Cerastes cerastes karlhartli — SOCHUREK 1979
Cerastes cerastes mutila — SOCHUREK 1979
Cerastes cerastes cerastes — WELCH 1994: 43
Cerastes cerastes — WERNER et al. 1999
Cerastes cerastes — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 367

Cerastes cerastes hoofieni WERNER & SIVAN in WERNER et al. 1999
Cerastes cornutus BOULENGER 1896
Aspis cerastes — MERTENS 1944: 33 (part.)
Cerastes cerastes — LEVITON & ANDERSON 1967: 187
Cerastes cerastes gasperettii — ARNOLD 1980: 319 (part.)
Cerastes cerastes hoofieni WERNER & SIVAN in WERNER et al. 1999: 87 
DistributionEgypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Israel, Jordan, Sudan, Oman (fide Joger 1983), Western Sahara

karlhartli: Sinai peninsula, SE Egypt through Kordofan

mutila: SW Algeria, adjacent Morocco.

hoofieni: SW corner of Arabian Peninsula (endemic). Type locality: King Khalid Airbase, Saudi Arabia, (18°18'N, 42°44'E)

Type locality: “Oriente’ (Egypt?) Map legend:
Type locality - Type locality.
TDWG region - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.

NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and this does not always work properly. We are working on it.
 
TypesHolotype: NRM (NHRM) 98. 
CommentVenomous!

Distribution: Reports from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen may represent C. gasperetti. The two subspecies Cerastes cerastes karlhartli and C. c. mutila are not even mentioned in WERNER et al. 1999. Both are synonymized with C. cerastes by MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999. Not in Syria fide MARTENS 1997.

Cerastes cerastes hoofieni was named after Mr. Jacob Haim Hoofien (1913-1997) who studied Middle Eastern herpetology.

Morphology: both hornless and horn-bearing specimens are known in this species.

Size: maximum body size of 80 cm and an average size of 35 to 60 cm.

Sochurek (1974) ‘described’ a subspecies of C. cerastes which he called ‘C. cerastes karlhartli’. However, the description was done in his privately published so-called ‘Herpetologische Blätter’, which according to art. 8.1 of the International Code of zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999) does not constitute a publication and therefore the description is not valid. THe name Cerastes cornuts was first used by Forskål 1775 but formally described only by Boulenger 1896 (WAGNER & WILMS 2010). 
References
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