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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 
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] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (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. mauritania.

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. 
References
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  • Bauer, Aaron M.; Jonathan C. DeBoer , Dylan J. Taylor 2017. Atlas of the Reptiles of Libya. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 64 (8): 155-318 - get paper here
  • Bezaz, Y. I., Hadjab, R., Khammar, H., Redjaimia, L., & Saheb, M. 2021. First data on the diversity of the herpetofauna of the Oum El Bouaghi Region (Northeast of Algeria). Ecol. Env. & Cons. 27 (3): 983-989
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