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Vipera darevskii VEDMEDERJA, ORLOV & TUNIYEV, 1986

IUCN Red List - Vipera darevskii - Critically Endangered, CR
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesVipera darevskii darevskii VEDMEDERJA, ORLOV & TUNIYEV 1986
Vipera darevskii kumlutasi (TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, ILGAZ, OLGUN, PETROVA, BODROV, GENIEZ & TEYNIÉ 2018)
Vipera darevskii olguni (TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, AGASIAN & AGASIAN 2012
Vipera darevskii uzumorum (TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, ILGAZ, OLGUN, PETROVA, BODROV, GENIEZ & TEYNIÉ 2018) 
Common NamesE: Darevsky's Viper
G: Darevski-Kreuzotter, Darevsky's Kaukasusotter 
SynonymVipera darevskii VEDMEDERJA, ORLOV & TUNIYEV 1986
Vipera renardi
Vipera ursini eriwanensis (REUSS 1923)
Vipera kaznakovi dinniki DAREVSKY 1956
Vipera darevskii — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Vipera darevskii — WELCH 1994: 121
Vipera (Pelias) darevskii — NILSON et al. 1999: 103
Vipera darevskii — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 404
Vipera (Pelias) darevskii — VENCHI & SINDACO 2006
Pelias darevskii — WALLACH et al. 2014: 543
Pelias darevskii — TUNIYEV 2016

Vipera darevskii kumlutasi (TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, ILGAZ, OLGUN, PETROVA, BODROV, GENIEZ & TEYNIÉ 2018)
Vipera eriwanensis — BARAN et al. 2005: 2 (part.)
Pelias darevskii kumlutasi TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, ILGAZ, OLGUN, PETROVA, BODROV, GENIEZ & TEYNIÉ 2018

Vipera darevskii olguni (TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, AGASIAN & AGASIAN 2012)
Pelias olguni TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, AGASIAN & AGASIAN 2012
Pelias darevskii — TUNIYEV et al., 2009 (part)
Pelias darevskii — AVCI et al. 2010
Pelias olguni — WALLACH et al. 2014: 544
Vipera darevskii olguni — TUNIYEV et al. 2018
Pelias olguni — TUNIYEV et al. 2019: 152
Vipera darevskii olguni — FREITAS et al. 2020

Vipera darevskii uzumorum (TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, ILGAZ, OLGUN, PETROVA, BODROV, GENIEZ & TEYNIÉ 2018)
Pelias darevskii uzumorum TUNIYEV, AVCI, TUNIYEV, ILGAZ, OLGUN, PETROVA, BODROV, GENIEZ & TEYNIÉ 2018 
DistributionArmenia, Republic of Georgia, elevation 2300-2800 m.

Type locality: Gukasyan Region, Armenia

kumlutasi: Turkey (Ardahan): Type locality: Turkey, Ardahan Province, the Yalnizçam Dağlari Ridge, vicinity of Bağdaşan Village.

olguni: Turkey (Upper Flow of the Kura River); Type locality: Turkey, Ardahan Province, Town Posof, Mt. Ilgar-Dag, (2020 m elevation).

uzumorum: Turkey (Artvin); Type locality: Turkey, Artvin Province, the Yalnizçam Dağlari Ridge, vicinity of Zekeriya Village, (elevation 2000 m above sea level),  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: ZISP = ZIN (Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Leningrad = St. Petersburg) 19934, adult female.
Holotype. SNP 904, adult female, 11.07.2012, collector S.B. Tuniyev (Fig. 11). Paratypes. SNP 908, adult female, three newborn females born in the terrarium; Turkey, Artvin Province, the Yalnizçam Dağlari Ridge, vicinity of Zekeriya Village (2000 m above sea level), 11.07.2012, collector B.S. Tuniyev; SNP 909, two adult females; Turkey, Artvin Province, the Yalnizçam Dağlari Ridge, vicinity of Zekeriya Village (2000 m above sea level), 11.07.2012, collector S.B. Tuniyev; ZDEU 99/2011, adult female and new-born male born in terrarium; Turkey, Artvin Province, the Yalnizçam Dağlari Ridge, vicinity of Zekeriya Village (2000 m above sea level), 24.07.2011, collector A. Avcı; BEV.8369 and BEV.8855, juvenile male and adult female respectively; Turkey, Artvin Province, the Yalnizçam Dağlari Ridge, vicinity of Zekeriya Village (2000 m above sea level), 18.09.2000, collectors A. Teynié and P. Geniez; MNHN-RA-2002.410, adult male, Turkey, Artvin Province, the Yalnizçam Dağlari Ridge, vicinity of Zekeriya Village (2000 m above sea level), 18.09.2000, collectors A. Teynié and P. Geniez (Fig. 12 A, B; 13 A–F in Tuniyev et al. 2018). [uzumorum]
Holotype: SNP 910, adult female; 12.07.2012, collector B.S. Tuniyev (Fig. 16). Paratypes. ZDEU 145/2001, three adult females, two juvenile females, two juvenile males, Turkey, Ardahan Province, Ardahan pass (2200 m above sea level), 04.07.2001, collectors Y. Kumlutaş, K. Olgun, Ç. Ilgaz, F. İret, A. Avcı (Fig. 17A, B in Tuniyev et al. 2019) [kumlutasi]
Holotype: SNP 866, Herpetological collection of the Sochi National Park, Sochi, SNP 866, adult female, 21 July 2011, collectors B. Tuniyev, S. Tuniyev, A. Avci. Paratypes. Fifteen specimens: herpetological collection of the Sochi National Park, Sochi, 13 specimens; Zoology Department Ege University, Zoology Lab. of the Department of Biology at Buca Education Faculty, Turkey (ZDEU) [olguni] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (uzumorum): Small-sized snake, back color is lighter than lateral background. Zigzag has winding, narrow, not interrupted with rounded wings in females, and interrupted with the transversely elongated spots in males. The supralabials are poorly pigmented or not pigmented. There are two (88.2%), rarely one (11.8%) apicals. The vipers of both sexes from Zekeriya differ from all other vipers under comparison by the maximum number of loreals, canthals and apicals, comparatively high number of preventrals and subcaudal shields. Females characterized by a minimal amount of supralabials, and males have the maximum. From above, males are painted in dark grey, whereas the female is reddish-brown in tone; zigzag consists of few transversely elongated spots in males and well-developed scalloped-continuous spots in females. The coloration in general is characterized by smoky figure. Belly is dark-spotted grey in females and almost black in males.


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CommentVenomous!

Distribution: specimens from Turkey previously assigned to this species have been assigned to a new species, Vipera (Pelias) olguni. Not found in Turkey but close to the Turkish-Armenian border (VENCHI & SINDACO 2006). For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013.

Phylogeography: In Anatolia, the subspecies V. darevskii uzumorum is grouped with V. kaznakovi rather than with samples assigned to V. darevskii (Dufresnes et al. 2024).

Synonymy partly after KHALIKOV & ANANJEVA (pers. comm.) and Freitas et al. 2020. 
EtymologyNamed after Russian herpetologist Ilya S. Darevsky (18 Dec 1924-8 Aug 2009), who collected the holotype.

Vipera darevskii uzumorum was named in honor of Prof. Dr. Nazan ÜZÜM and her husband Prof. Dr. Ömer Barış ÜZÜM, to acknowledge their prolific contribution to the herpetology of Turkey.

V. d. olguni was named in honor of Prof. Dr. Kurtulus Olgun.

Vipera darevskii kumlutasi was named in honor of Prof. Dr. Yusuf KUMLUTAŞ who has been working on the herpetofauna of Turkey. 
References
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