Proatheris superciliaris (PETERS, 1855)

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Higher Taxa	Viperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Lowland Swamp Viper, Domino-bellied viper, Lowland viper
Synonym	Vipera superciliaris PETERS 1855 Vipera superciliaris — PFEFER 1893: 89 Bitis superciliaris — KRAMER 1961 Vipera superciliaris — SWEENEY 1963 Atheris superciliaris — MARX & RABB 1965 Atheris superciliaris — STEVENS 1973 Atheris superciliaris — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 23 Atheris superciliaris — WELCH 1994: 21 Proatheris superciliaris — BROADLEY 1996 Proatheris superciliaris — JOGER & COURAGE 1999 Proatheris superciliaris — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 387 Proatheris superciliaris — DOBIEY & VOGEL 2007 Proatheris superciliaris — WALLACH et al. 2014: 578 Proatheris superciliaris — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 596
Distribution	Mozambique (from Beira north to Quissanga, up Zambezi River to Lake Malawi), Malawi, Tanzania Type locality: Mainland opposite Querimba Island, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.
Reproduction	ovovivparous
Types	Holotype: ZMB 4121, according to Bauer et al. 1995: 81
Diagnosis	Diagnosis (genus): Dorsal head shields small and keeled except for a pair of large rugose supraocular shields (Figure 5a); nasals in broad contact with rostral (i.e. no suprarostral shields: Figure 1a); no duplication of transverse dorsal scale rows; palatine-pterygoid articulation an interlocking joint (Figure 4e); intrapulmonary bronchus long; subcaudals paired.” (Broadley 1996) Additional details (1581 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Venomous! Type species: Vipera superciliaris PETERS 1855 is the type species of the genus Proatheris BROADLEY 1996. Phylogenetics: for a recent phylogeny of this and related Viperinae see Šmíd & Tolley 2019.
Etymology	Apparently named after the scale above the eye, the superciliary, from Latin cilium = eyelash or eyelid. The genus was named after Pro- (Latin = before) and “atheris”, because this seems to be the plesiomorphic sister species to the rest of the Atherini.
References	Bauer, A.M.; Günther,R. & Klipfel,M. 1995. The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815-1883). SSAR Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology, 714 pp. Branch, William R. 1993. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 144 S. Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70 Broadley, D.G. 1960. Vipera superciliaris – a rare viper added to the Nyasaland list. J. Herp. Assoc. Rhodesia 12: 3–4 - get paper here Broadley, D.G. 1996. A review of the tribe Atherini (Serpentes: Viperidae), with the descriptions of two new genera. African Journal of Herpetology 45: 40-48. - get paper here Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here Ferreira, J. Bethencourt 1897. Sobre alguns reptis ultimamente enviados á secção zoologica do Museu de Lisboa. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Lisboa 5 (18): 111-116 Herrmann, H. W.; Joger, U.; Lenk, P. & Wink, M. 1999. Morphological and molecular phylogenies of viperines: conflicting evidence? Kaupia (Darmstadt) (8): 21-30 - get paper here Joger,U. & Courage,K. 1999. Are palearctic ‘rattlesnakes’ (Echis and Cerastes) monophyletic? Kaupia (Darmstadt) (8): 65-81 Kramer, E. 1961. Uber zwei afrikanische Zwergpuffottem, Bitis hindii (Boulenger, 1910) und Bitis superciliaris (Peters, 1854). Vierteljschr. naturf. Ges. Zürich 106: 419-423. Mallow, D. Ludwig, D. & Nilson, G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Krieger, Malabar, Florida, 410 pp. [review in HR 35: 200, Reptilia 35: 74] Marx, H. & G.B. RABB 1965. Relationships and zoogeography of the viperine snakes (Family Viperidae). Fieldiana: Zoology 44 (21): 161-206 - 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. O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here Peters,W.C.H. 1854. Diagnosen neuer Batrachier, welche zusammen mit der früher (24. Juli und 17. August) gegebenen Übersicht der Schlangen und Eidechsen mitgetheilt werden. Ber. Bekanntmach. Geeignet. Verhandl. Königl.-Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1854: 614-628 Pfeffer, G. 1893. Ostafrikanische Reptilien und Amphibien, gesammelt von Herrn Dr. F. Stuhlmann im Jahre 1888 und 1889. Jb. Hamb. Wiss. Anst. 10: 71-105. Phelps, T. 2010. Old World Vipers. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 558 pp. [critical review in Sauria 33 (3): 19 and HR 43: 503] Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373 Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here Stevens, R. Andrew 1973. A report on the lowland viper, Antheris superciliaris (Peters), from the Lake Chilwa Floodplain of Malawi. Arnoldia 6 (22): 1-22 Sweeney, R. C. H. 1963. Two uncommonly seen snakes in Nyasaland. The Nyasaland Journal 16 (1): 71-72 - get paper here Šmíd, Jiří;, & Krystal A. Tolley 2019. Calibrating the tree of vipers under the fossilized birth-death model. Scientific Reports 9:5510 - 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.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.kingsnake.com/atheris/photos.html Google images

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