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Daboia mauritanica (GRAY, 1849)

IUCN Red List - Daboia mauritanica - Near Threatened, NT
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Moorish Viper
G: Atlasotter
G: Saharaotter [deserti] 
SynonymClotho ? mauritanica GRAY 1849: 27 (fide WALLACH et al. 2014)
Echidna mauritanica DUMÉRIL & BIBRON in GUICHENOT 1850
Echidna mauritanica GUICHENOT 1850: 24
Echidna mauritanica — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1431
Echidna mauritanica — GÜNTHER 1859: 226
Vipera confluenta COPE 1864: 181
Vipera lebetina var. deserti ANDERSON 1892: 20
Vipera lebetina deserti — SCHWARZ 1936
Vipera lebetina mauritanica — SCHWARZ 1936
Vipera mauritanica deserti — KRAMER & SCHNURRENBERGER 1959
Vipera lebetina desertorum in MARINKELLE 1959:35
Vipera lebetina desertori — MARINKELLE 1962:15
Vipera mauritanica deserti — KRAMER & SCHNURRENBERGER 1963
Vipera mauritanica deserti — SOCHUREK 1979
Vipera mauritanica mauritanica — SOCHUREK 1979
Vipera lebetina mauritanica — HARDING & WELCH 1980
Vipera lebetina deserti — HARDING & WELCH 1980
Daboia lebetina deserti — OBST 1983
Daboia lebetina mauritanica — OBST 1983
Macrovipera mauretanica — HERRMANN, JOGER & NILSON 1992
Macrovipera deserti — HERRMANN, JOGER & NILSON 1992
Vipera mauritanica deserti — WELCH 1994: 123
Vipera mauritanica mauritanica — WELCH 1994: 123
Macrovipera mauritanica — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 385
Macrovipera deserti — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 383
Macrovipera mauritanica — DAVID & INEICH 1999: 323
Daboia deserti — LENK et al. 2001
Daboia mauritanica — LENK et al. 2001
Daboia mauritanica — WÜSTER et al. 2008
Macrovipera mauritanica — GRUBER 2009
Daboia deserti — PHELPS 2010
Macrovipera (Laidlawus) deserti — HOSER 2012 (preliminary)
Daboia deserti — WALLACH et al. 2014: 207
Daboia mauritanica — WALLACH et al. 2014: 207
Daboia deserti — BAUER et al. 2017
Daboia deserti — SPAWLS & BRANCH 2020 
DistributionMorocco, Western Sahara, N Algeria, Tunisia

Type locality: Restricted to “Oran” (Algeria) fide SCHWARZ (1936).

deserti: S Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya; Type locality: "Duirat, South Tunisia."  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 4017
Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.18.28 [deserti] 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 1816 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: The authors of this species are sometimes given as Duméril & Bibron 1848 but there seems to be a consensus now that Gray 1849 has to be the original author given that Guichenot was published only in 1850 (e.g. David & Ineich 1999). Martínez-Freiría et al. 2017 synonymized D. deserti (and thereby, all north African Daboia) with D. mauritanica.

Subspecies: Vipera mauritanica deserti has been elevated to species status but then synonymized with mauritanica again.

Phylogenetics: Macrovipera mauritanica and M. lebetina are paraphyletic based on mtDNA sequences. M. mauritanica may be renamed to Daboia mauritanica (GARRIGUES et al. 2005).

NCBI taxonID: 110203 [deserti]

Distribution: For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin Mauritania, North African historical region (from Latin maurus, Moor, inhabitant of North Africa. 
References
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