| Higher Taxa | Viperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Bristly Tree Viper |
| Synonym | Atheris hirsuta ERNST & RÖDEL 2002
Atheris hirsuta — DOBIEY & VOGEL 2007
Atheris hirsuta — WALLACH et al. 2014: 62
Atheris hirsuta — SENTER & CHIPPAUX 2022 |
| Distribution | Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia
Type locality: 6 km west of the “Station de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale” (SRET, 5° 50’ N, 7° 19’ W), Taï National Park, Ivory Coast.
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| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: SMNS 11333 (Stuttgart) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Slender tree viper with rather short head, IOD (Interorbital distance) / SED (Snout-eye distance) = 2.3; heavily carinated scales, especially on head and neck, giving the snake a bristly appearance; keels. run in long curves towards a sharp tip; six suprarostrals; eight to nine infralabials; three pairs of sublinguals; elongate dorsal scales; 16 scale rows around mid-body. |
| Comment | Venomous! Closely related to A. squamigera.
Habitat: trees (arboreal) |
| Etymology | The name refers to the hirsute appearance of the snake (lat. hirsutus = hairy, hirsute). |
| References |
- Chippaux, Jean-Philippe & Kate Jackson 2019. Snakes of Central and Western Africa. Johns Hopkins University Press, 448 pp. [detaileld review in HR 51 (1): 161] - get paper here
- Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here
- Ernst, R. & Rödel, M. O. 2002. A new Atheris species (Serpentes: Viperidae), from Taï National Park, Ivory Coast. The Herpetological Journal 12: 55-61 - get paper here
- HUGHES, B. 2017. VIPERIDAE: Atheris hirsuta Ernst & Rödel 2001 Bristly Tree Viper - BRISTLY TREE VIPER IN GHANA. African Herp News (65): 34-35 - get paper here
- PAUWELS, O. S. G., AND J. BRECKO 2020. Book Review: Snakes of Central and Western Africa. Herpetological Review 51: 161-164.
- PENNER, JOHANNES; LEGRAND NONO GONWOUO, MARK-OLIVER RÖDEL 2013. Second record of the West African hairy bush viper Atheris hirsuta Ernst & Rödel, 2002 (Serpentes: Viperidae). Zootaxa 3694 (2): - get paper here
- Phelps, T. 2010. Old World Vipers. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 558 pp. [critical review in Sauria 33 (3): 19 and HR 43: 503]
- Schlüter, A. & Hallermann, J. 1997. The Type Specimens in the Herpetological Collection of the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart. Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk. Ser. A (553): 1-15 - get paper here
- Senter, P. J., & Chippaux, J. P. 2022. Biogeography of snakes in Liberia: Review and synthesis of current knowledge. Ghana Journal of Science, 63(1), 29-62 - get paper here
- TRAPE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS & CELLOU BALDÉ 2014. A checklist of the snake fauna of Guinea, with taxonomic changes in the genera Philothamnus and Dipsadoboa (Colubridae) and a comparison with the snake fauna of some other West African countries. Zootaxa 3900 (3): 301–338 - 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.
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