You are here » home › search results › Bitis nasicornis

Bitis nasicornis (SHAW & NODDER, 1792)

iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Bitis nasicornis?

Add your own observation of
Bitis nasicornis »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Rhinoceros Viper
G: Nashornviper 
SynonymColuber nasicornis SHAW & NODDER 1792 (unnumbered page before plate 94)
Coluber nasicornis SHAW 1802: 397
Vipera nasicornis – DAUDIN 1803: 322
Cerastes nasicornis — WAGLER (fide HALLOWELL 1857: 62)
Clotho nasicornis – GRAY 1842: 69
Vipera hexacera DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1416
Echidna nasicornis – HALLOWELL 1857: 62
Vipera nasicornis — BOETTGER 1889: 281
Bitis nasicornis – BÜTTIKOFER 1890
Bitis nasicornis – BOULENGER 1896: 500
Bitis nasicornis — SCHMIDT 1923: 143
Bitis (Macrocerastes) nasicornis — LENK et al. 1999
Bitis nasicornis — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 364
Bitis nasicornis — RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000
Bitis nasicornis — DOBIEY & VOGEL 2007
Bitis (Macrocerastes) nasicornis — WITTENBERG et al. 2014
Bitis nasicornis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 93
Bitis nasicornis — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 579
Bitis (Macrocerastes) nasicornis — BARLOW et al. 2019
Bitis nasicornis — SENTER & CHIPPAUX 2022 
DistributionRepublic of South Sudan (RSS), W Kenya, Uganda, Angola, W/C/E Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea (Conakry), Central African Republic, Tanzania, Zambia

Type locality: Inner Africa  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesTypes: Unlocated. Reportedly (Shaw, 1802: 400) in the British Museum but not identi- fiable from the listings in Boulenger (1896: 500-501). 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (3833 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Some authors, e.g. McDiarmid et al. 1999: 364 have argued that the original author is SHAW 1792: 94 who illustrated and described this species. However, Shaw 1792 didn’t use a binomial and only called it the Horn-nosed Snake, hence the name was apparently only coined in 1802.

Distribution: For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin nasus = nose and cornu = horn ofanimals; the scales form two horn-like projections on the snout. 
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
  • Beddard, F.E. 1906. Contributions to the Anatomy of the Ophidia. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1906: 12-44
  • Behangana, M.; C. Aluziyo, D dendi, L. Luiselli, D. F. Hughes, E. Greenbaum 2019. HERPETOFAUNAL DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AT LAKE NABUGABO AND SURROUNDING RAMSAR AREA WETLANDS IN SOUTHERN UGANDA. Vie et milieu - life and environment 69 (2-3): 1-N - get paper here
  • Berkheimer, R. 1996. Want to get lens-to-nose with venomous snakes? Reptile & Amphibian Magazine (Feb 1996): 66-71
  • Böhme, Wolfgang, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Christian Brede & Philipp Wagner 2011. The reptiles (Testudines, Squamata, Crocodylia) of the forested southeast of the Republic Guinea (Guinée forestière), with a country-wide checklist. Bonn zoological Bulletin 60 (1): 35-61 - get paper here
  • Böhme, Wolfgang; Eberhard Fischer & Harald Hinkel 2023. Reptilien aus dem Irangi Forest, Provinz Kivu-Süd, Demokratische Republik Kongo. Sauria 45 (4): 29
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Briscoe, M.S. 1949. Notes on Snakes Collected in Liberia. Copeia 1949 (1): 16-18 - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G.; Doria, C.T. & Wigge, J. 2003. Snakes of Zambia. An Atlas and Field Guide. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 280 pp. [review in Sauria 26 (3): 21]
  • Büttikofer 1890. Reisebilder aus Liberia. II. Die Bewohner Liberia 's.Thierwelt. Leyden: 1890, 8vo, 510 pp.
  • Calvete, J.J.; Escolano, J.; Sanz, L. 2007. Snake venomics of bitis species reveals large intragenus venom toxin composition variation: application to taxonomy of congeneric taxa. Journal of Proteome Research 6(7):2732-2745 - get paper here
  • Cayuela, Hugo; Godfrey C Akani, Emmanuel M Hema, Edem A Eniang, Nioking Amadi, Stephanie N Ajong, Daniele Dendi, Fabio Petrozzi, Luca Luiselli 2019. Life history and age-dependent mortality processes in tropical reptiles. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 128, Issue 2, October 2019, Pages 251–262, - get paper here
  • Chifundera, K. 1990. Snakes of Zaire and their bites. Afr. Stud. Monogr. (Kyoto) 10(3): 137-157.
  • 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
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • Daudin, F. M. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, génerale et particulièredes reptiles, ouvrage faisant suite, a l'histoiure naturelle, générale et particulière composée par LECLERC DE BUFFON, et redigée par C. S. SONNINI, vol. 3. F. Dufart, Paris, 452 pp. - get paper here
  • Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here
  • Duméril, A. M. C., Bibron, G. & DUMÉRIL, A. H. A., 1854. Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète des reptiles. Tome septième. Deuxième partie, comprenant l'histoire des serpents venimeux. Paris, Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret: i-xii + 781-1536 - get paper here
  • Ernst R, Lautenschläger T, Branquima MF, Hölting M 2020. At the edge of extinction: a first herpetological assessment of the proposed Serra do Pingano Rainforest National Park in Uíge Province, northern Angola. Zoosystematics and Evolution 96(1): 237-262 - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1842. Monographic Synopsis of the Vipers or the family Viperidae. Zoological Miscellany 2: 68-71 - get paper here
  • Hallowell,E. 1857. Notes of a collection of reptiles from the Gaboon country, West Africa, recently presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Dr. Herny A. Ford. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 9: 48-72 - get paper here
  • Hanscom, R. J., Higham, T. E., Ryan, D., & Clark, R. W. 2023. Ambush hunting in snakes: behaviour, function, and diversity. In: D. Penning (ed.), Snakes: morphology, function, and ecology. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers - get paper here
  • Herrmann, H. W.; Joger, U.; Lenk, P. & Wink, M. 1999. Morphological and molecular phylogenies of viperines: conflicting evidence? Kaupia (Darmstadt) (8): 21-30 - get paper here
  • HINKEL, HARALD; HENDRIK HINKEL & J. MAXIMILIAN DEHLING. 2022. BITIS NASICORNIS (Rhinoceros Viper). LEUCISM. Herpetological Review 53 (3): 504.
  • Hughes, B. 1968. An unusual Rhinoceros Viper, Bitis nasicornis from Ghana, West Africa. Zoologische Mededelingen 9 (43): 107-115 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 2013. Snakes of Bénin, West Africa. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 144: 101-159
  • Jackson, Kate 2008. MEAN AND LOWLY THINGS - Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo. Harvard University Press, 336 pp. - get paper here
  • Jackson, Kate; Ange-Ghislain Zassi-Boulou, Lis-Bethy Mavoungou, and Serge Pangou 2007. Amphibians and Reptiles of the LacTélé Community Reserve, Likouala Region, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). Herp. Cons. Biol. 2 (2): 75-86 - get paper here
  • Krause, P.B. 1982. Differences in the Musculature of the Venom Gland among River Jack Vipers, Bitis nasicornis Journal of Herpetology 16 (1): 87-89. - get paper here
  • Laita, Mark 2013. Serpentine. Abrams and PQ Blackwell, Auckland, New Zealand, 200 unnumbered pages
  • 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
  • Lillywhite, Harvey B. 2014. How Snakes Work: Structure, Function and Behavior of the World's Snakes. Oxford University Press, New York, 256 pp
  • Loveridge, A. 1936. African reptiles and amphibians in the Field Museum of Natural History. Zool. Ser. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Chicago, 22 (1): 1-122 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1956. On snakes collected in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by J.S. Owen, Esq. Sudan Notes Rec. 36: 37-56 [1955]
  • Loveridge, Arthur 1929. East African reptiles and amphibians in the United States National Museum. Bull. US Natl. Mus. (151): 1-135 - 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]
  • Marques, Mariana P.; Luis M. P. Ceríaco , David C. Blackburn , and Aaron M. Bauer 2018. Diversity and Distribution of the Amphibians and Terrestrial Reptiles of Angola -- Atlas of Historical and Bibliographic Records (1840–2017). Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (Ser. 4) 65: 1-501 (Supplement II)
  • 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
  • Matuschka, F.-R. 1979. The African Bitis nasicornis (SHAW 1802) as final host of an unknown Sarocystis species. Salamandra 15 (4): 264-266 - 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.
  • Ota, H. & Hikida, T. 1987. On a small collection of lizards and snakes from Cameroon, West Africa. African Study Monographs 8 (2): 111-123 - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pauwels OSG, Morelle S, Albert J-L, Carlino P, Rahola N, Trape J-F. 2019. New reptile records from Lékédi Park and Haut-Ogooué Province, southeastern Gabon. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13 (1) [General Section]: 143–161 (e174) - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O. S. G. B. Le Garff, I. Ineich, P. Carlino, I. Melcore, L. Boundenga, C. Vigna, T. Stévart, K. Jeffery, C. Orbell, J.-B. Squarcini, J. P. Vande weghe and L. J. T. White 2016. Miscellanea Herpetologica Gabonica V & VI. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 51: 177 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O. S., & Colyn, M. 2023. On a Collection of Snakes from Bengamisa, Right Bank of the Congo River, Northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, 58(6), 81-92
  • Pauwels, O. S., & Colyn, M. 2023. On a Diverse Collection of Snakes from Amadjabe, Left Bank of the Congo River, Northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, 58(3), 34-47 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vande Weghe, J.P. 2008. Les reptiles du Gabon. Smithsonian Institution, Washington: 272 pp. - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G.; Kamdem Toham, A. & Chimsunchart, C. 2002. Recherches sur l’herpétofaune du Massif du Chaillu, Gabon. Bull. Inst. Roy. Sci. Nat. Belgique (Biologie) 72: 47-57 - 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]
  • Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373
  • Pitman,C.R.S. 1974. A guide to the snakes of Uganda. Codicote, Wheldon & Wesley, L., 290 pp.
  • Rasmussen,J.B. 1981. The snakes from the rainforest of the Usambara Mountains, Tanzania: a checklist and key. Salamandra 17 (3-4): 173-188 - get paper here
  • Reading, C. J.; L. M. Luiselli, G. C. Akani, X. Bonnet, G. Amori, J. M. Ballouard, E. Filippi, G. Naulleau, D. Pearson, L. Rugiero 2010. Are snake populations in widespread decline? Biol. Lett. 2010 6 777-780; DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0373 - get paper here
  • Rödel M O; Mahsberg D 2000. Vorläufige Liste der Schlangen des Tai-Nationalparks/Elfenbeinküste und angrenzender Gebiete. Salamandra 36 (1): 25-38 - get paper here
  • SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS, A., CALVO-REVUELTA, M. & DE LA RIVA, I. 2022. Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea. Zootaxa 5202 (1): 1-197 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, K. P. 1923. Contributions to the herpetology of the Belgian Congo based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition, 1909-1915. Part II. Snakes, with field notes by Herbert Lang and James P. Chapin. Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist. 49 (1): 1-146 - get paper here
  • Segniagbeto GLazcano. H., Trape J. F., David P., Ohler A., Dubois A. & Glitho I. A. 2011. The snake fauna of Togo: systematics, distribution and biogeography, with remarks on selected taxonomic problems. Zoosystema 33 (3): 325-360. DOI: 10.5252/z2011n3a4 - 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
  • Shaw, GEORGE 1802. General zoology or systematic natural history, vol. 3, Pt 1. Thomas Davison, London, viii+312 pp - get paper here
  • Shaw,G. & Nodder,F.P. 1792. The Naturalist's Miscellany [...], Vol. III. London, Nodder & Co., plates 75-110, 137 unnumbered pages [published in monthly issues between between August 1, 1791, and July 1, 1792]. - get paper here
  • Shine, R., Spawls, S. 2020. An ecological analysis of snakes captured by C.J.P. Ionides in eastern Africa in the mid-1900s. Sci Rep 10: 5096 - get paper here
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H.;Weyer, Dora 1958. Report on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from Harbel, Republic of Liberia. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 38 (14): 1191-1229 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • Trape, J.F. & R. ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995. Les serpents du Congo: liste commentée et clé de détermination. Journal of African Zoology 109 (1): 31-50
  • 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.
  • Werning, H. 2009. Das Serpentarium des Snakeparadise in Eschlikon in der Schweiz. Reptilia (Münster) 14 (79): 76-82 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Zeeb, Sven 2012. Die Wirkung von Schlangengiften auf die Blutgerinnung und ihre Nutzung in der medizinischen Therapie und Diagnostik. Draco 13 (51): 58-66 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Bitis&species=nasicornis

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator