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Bitis xeropaga HAACKE, 1975

IUCN Red List - Bitis xeropaga - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Desert Mountain Adder 
SynonymBitis xeropaga HAACKE 1975
Bitis xeropaga — WELCH 1994: 29
Bitis (Calechidna) xeropaga — LENK et al. 1999
Bitis xeropaga — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 367
Bitis xeropaga — DOBIEY & VOGEL 2007
Bitis (Calechidna) xeropaga — WITTENBERG et al. 2014
Bitis xeropaga — WALLACH et al. 2014: 94
Bitis (Calechidna) xeropaga — BARLOW et al. 2019 
DistributionNamibia, Republic of South Africa

Type locality: "Dreikammberg on north bank of Orange River, Lüderitz district, South West Africa [Namibia] (16°52' E, 28°05'S, [elevation] about 300 m)."  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesHolotype: DNMNH (= TM) (= TMP) 42305, adult male (Transvaal Museum) 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS: A small adder related to the horned adders of southern Africa, but without horns, subcaudals smooth (rarely faintly keeled distally), with higher average scale counts than sympatric populations of B. caudalis, the number of dorsal rows across neck equal to those across middle, a typical colour pattern on a light grey background and a speckled, mottled or otherwise irregularly marked ventrum. (Haacke 1975)


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CommentVenomous! 
EtymologyNamed after the Greek xëros, meaning "dry land," and paganus, meaning "dweller." 
References
  • Barlow A, Wüster W, Kelly CMR, Branch WR, Phelps T, Tolley KA. 2019. Ancient habitat shifts and organismal diversification are decoupled in the African viper genus Bitis (Serpentes: Viperidae). J Biogeogr. 46: 1234– 1248 - get paper here
  • Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp.
  • Bauer, A.M., and Branch, W.R. 2003. The herpetofauna of the Richtersveld National Park, Northern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa. Herpetological Natural History 8: 111-160 [2001]
  • Branch, William R. 1993. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 144 S.
  • Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here
  • Fleck,J. 1999. Bemerkungen zur Wüstenbergotter Bitis xeropaga HAACKE 1975 sowie Beobachtungen bei der Haltung und Zucht. Herpetofauna 21 (122): 5-9 - get paper here
  • Haacke, W.D. 1975. Description of a new adder (Viperidae, Reptilia) from Southern Africa, with a discussion of related forms. Cimbebasia (A) 4: 115-128
  • Herrmann, H.-W.; W.R. Branch 2013. Fifty years of herpetological research in the Namib Desert and Namibia with an updated and annotated species checklist. Journal of Arid Environments 93: 94–115 - get paper here
  • Lenk,P.; Herrmann,H. W.; Joger,U. & Wink,M. 1999. Phylogeny and taxonomic subdivision of Bitis (Reptilia: Viperidae) based on molecular evidence. Kaupia (Darmstadt) (8): 31-38 - get paper here
  • 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]
  • Martínez del Mármol, G. 2020. The phenotypic variability of the Genus Bitis Gray 1842, with remarks in its resemblance to other vipers. In: Martínez, G., León, R., Jiménez-Robles, O., González De la Vega, J. P., Gabari, V., Rebollo, B., Sánchez-Tójar, A., Fernández-Cardenete, J. R., Gállego, J. (Eds.). Amphibians and Reptiles of Morocco and Western Sahara - 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.
  • Phelps, T. 2010. Old World Vipers. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 558 pp. [critical review in Sauria 33 (3): 19 and HR 43: 503]
  • Sattler, U. 1998. Nachzucht von Bitis xeropaga (HAACKE 1975). Elaphe 6 (4): 24
  • Schleicher, Alfred 2015. Reptilien Namibias. Namibia Scientific  Society, 276 pp.
  • Schleicher, Alfred 2020. Reptiles of Namibia. Kuiseb Publishers, Windhoek, Namibia, 271 pp.
  • Spawls, S., Branch, B. 2020. The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Bloomsbury, London, 336 pp. - get paper here
  • Tolley, K.A., Conradie, W., Pietersen, D.W., Weeber, J., Burger, M. & Alexander, G.J. (eds) 2023. Conservation status of the reptiles of South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho. Suricata 10. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria
  • 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.
  • Wittenberg, Rod D. & Robert C. Jadin & Allyson M. Fenwick & Ronald L. Gutberlet Jr. 2014. Recovering the evolutionary history of Africa’s most diverse viper genus: morphological and molecular phylogeny of Bitis (Reptilia: Squamata: Viperidae). Org Divers Evol, DOI 10.1007/s13127-014-0185-3
 
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