Vipera eriwanensis (REUSS, 1933)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Vipera eriwanensis?
Vipera eriwanensis
Find more photos by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | Vipera eriwanensis eriwanensis (REUSS 1933) Vipera eriwanensis ebneri KNOEPFFLER & SOCHUREK 1955 |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Acridophaga renardi eriwanensis REUSS 1933: 373 Vipera ursinii ebneri KNÖPFLER & SOCHUREK 1955 Vipera ursini renardi — KRAMER 1961: 627 (part.) Vipera ursinii eriwanensis — JOGER 1984 Vipera ursinii eriwanensis — NILSON et al. 1988 Vipera ursinii eriwanensis — ENGELMANN et al 1993 Vipera eriwanensis — HÖGGREN et al. 1993 Vipera renardi eriwanensis — WELCH 1994: 123 Vipera (Pelias) eriwanensis — NILSON et al. 1999: 104 Vipera ursinii — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 410 Vipera (Acridophaga) eriwanensis — RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al. 2008 Pelias shemakhensis TUNIYEV, ORLOV, TUNIYEV & KIDOV 2013: 140 Pelias shemakheninsis — TUNIYEV et al. 2013: 129 (in error) Pelias eriwanensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 543 Pelias eriwanensis — TUNIYEV 2016 Pelias schemakhensis — TUNIYEV 2016 (in error) Pelias shemakhensis kakhetiensis TUNIYEV et al. 2018 Pelias shemakheninsis — TUNIYEV et al. 2019 Vipera eriwanensis — KAMALI 2020: 455 Pelias shemakhensis kakhetiensis — ANANJEVA et al. 2021 Vipera eriwanensis ebneri KNOEPFFLER & SOCHUREK, 1955 Vipera ursinii ebneri KNOEPFFLER & SOCHUREK, 1955 Vipera eriwanensis ebneri — GOLAY et al. 1993 Vipera ebneri — NILSON & ANDRÉN 2001 Vipera (Acridophaga) ebneri — RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al. 2008 Vipera ebneri — TUNIYEV et al. 2010 Vipera eriwanensis ebneri — JOGER 2011 (pers. comm.) Pelias ebneri — WALLACH et al. 2014: 543 Vipera ebneri — HUTWALKER 2017 Pelias ebneri — TUNIYEV et al. 2018 Pelias ebneri — TUNIYEV et al. 2019x |
| Distribution | Armenia, NW Iran, NE Turkey, Georgia Type locality: Yerevan (at 2000 m elevation), Armenia. ebneri: Iran kakhetiensis: Georgia; Type locality: Vicinity of village Dedopliszkaro, Fortress Khornabudji, Shirak Plateau (Kakhetia, East Georgia). shemakhensis: NE Azerbaijan; Type locality: Vicinity of Shemakhan (= Shemakha, north-eastern Azerbaijan |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Neotype: GNM = Goteborg Natural History Museum Re.ex 5158; designated by Nilson et al. 1999. Holotype: NMW 14889 [ebneri] Holotype: ZISP 21720, Herpetological collection of Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, 25.04.1972, Coll. E. A. Erukh (Fig. 11 in Tuniyev et al. 2013) [shemakhensis] Holotype: SNP 1059 (adult male); paratypes: 6 specimens, SNP 1052 (4 juv.), No 1053 (2 specimens, adult male and adult female) [kakhetiensis] |
| Diagnosis | |
| Comment | Venomous! Synonymy: U. JOGER (pers. comm., 1 Aug 2011), suggested to treat V. ebneri as subspecies of V. eriwanensis, see this entry. The status of Pelias shemakhensis and V. ebeneri are questionable with low genetic divergence to V. eriwanensis (1% or less) (Freitas et al. 2020). Hence, Freitas et al. 2020 also included P. ebneri within V. eriwanensis; subspecies status may be the most appropriate solution for both taxa. NCBI TaxID: 2493205 [shemakhensis] Diagnosis (shemakhensis). Small viper, different from other species by minimal number of wings in zigzag (54.8), by the presence of specimens with unique combination from four canthal shields under the absence of apicals. Brown cervical zigzag with small wings is located on the dirty- white back. On each side of body dark shallow patches are located chequer wise in 2 – 3 rows, unlike one row of large dark patches mainly typical for other representa- tives of “ursinii” complex in the Caucasian Isthmus. Distribution: For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. |
| Etymology | Named after the type locality in Armenia. Pelias shemakhensis was named after the type locality, the town and district of Shemakha. |
| References |
|
| External links |