Protobothrops himalayanus PAN, CHETTRI, YANG, JIANG, WANG, ZHANG & VOGEL, 2013
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Protobothrops himalayanus
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| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Chinese: 喜山原矛头蝮 |
| Synonym | Protobothrops himalayanus PAN, CHETTRI, YANG, JIANG, WANG, ZHANG & VOGEL 2013 Protobothrops jerdoni — GUO et al. 2009 Protobothrops sp. — SHARMA 2013 |
| Distribution | China (S Tibet), Nepal, Bhutan, India (Sikkim) Type locality: Jilong Valley, Jilong County, southern Tibet, China (85.35360° E, 28.37996° N; elevation 2708 m) |
| Reproduction | oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: KIZ 012736 (Figure 1), an adult female, collected by Kai WANG and Hujun PAN on 14 June 2012, and deposited in KIZ. Paratypes: JL 20120614-001, an adult female from the same locality as the holotype, a road killed specimen, collected by Hujun PAN on 23 May 2012, and deposited in South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou, China; ZSI 25990 (Figure 2), an adult male from Chungthang, northern Sikkim, India, collected by Basundhara CHETTRI on 16 August 2008, and deposited in ZSI, Kolkata, India. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: This new species is assigned to the genus Protobothrops on the basis of the following characters: 2 large solenoglyph teeth and a loreal pit; dorsal head covered with very small scales; body and tail elongated, thin and cylindrical; DSR 25 at midbody, keeled except the outermost; and distinct transverse bands found across body and tail (Hoge and Romano-Hoge, 1983). Protobothrops himalayanus sp. nov. differs from other species of Protobothrops by the following characters: 1) relatively large body size (TL up to 1510 mm ); 2) DSR 25–25–19; 3) with the exception of the smooth outermost row, dorsal scales are weakly keeled; 4) relatively high number of ventral (198–216) and subcaudal scales (65–76 pairs); 5) 7–8 supralabials; 6) 11 to 13 infralabials; 7) dorsal head uniform dark brown, laterally a reddish- brown obscure postocular streak, starting behind the eye; 8) dorsal body and tail olive, with distinct black edged red brown transverse bands across the body and tail; and 9) eye found from bright brown and reddish brown to mildly brown. |
| Comment | Synonymy: previously considered as P. jerdoni. Distribution: see map in Guo et a. 2016: 383 (Fig. 1). Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
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