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Echis megalocephalus CHERLIN, 1990

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Large-headed Carpet Viper, Cherlin's Saw-scaled Viper 
SynonymEchis megalocephalus CHERLIN 1990
Echis megalocephalus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 379
Echis megalocephalus — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 620
Echis megalocephalus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 256 
DistributionEritrea (Dahhlah); Indian Ocean Islands

Type locality: "Ostrov na yuge Krasnovo morya" [Islands in southern Red Sea]. Borkin and Cherlin 1995: 136 [English summary] noted that the type-locality "seems to be restricted to Nokra Island (Dakhlak Archipelago, the Red Sea, Ethiopia)." McDiarmid et al. 1999 interpret this as a clarification of the type-locality, not a restriction in the nomenclatural sense. The type locality could be Hanish el Kebir, 13°45'N, 42°45'E) or one of the Dakhlak islands (UJ).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZISP (ZIL) 19430.1; paratypes: ZIN.19530.2-4 
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 449 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: Maybe synonymous with E. pyramidum (fide G. Nilson in MCDIARMID et al. 1999). Not listed by WELCH 1994. Pook et al. 2009 list this species with a question mark.

Conservation: one of the 30 most endangered viper species (Maritz et al. 2016). 
EtymologyNamed after Greek μεγάλος (megalos) = big and Greek kéfale (κεφάλη), head, for the relatively large head. 
References
  • Borkin, L. Y., & Cherlin, V. A. 1995. ON THE VALIDITY OF THE NAME ECHIS-COLORATUS AND THE TYPE LOCALITY OF ECHIS-MEGALOCEPHALUS. Zoologichesky Zhurnal, 74 (9): 134-136
  • Cherlin, V.A. 1990. Taxonomic revision of the snake genus Echis (Viperidae). II. An analysis of taxonomy and description of new forms [in Russian]. Proc. Zool. Institute Leningrad 207: 193-223
  • Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp.
  • Maritz, Bryan; Johannes Penner, Marcio Martins, Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailović, Stephen Spear, Laura R.V. Alencar, Jesús Sigala-Rodriguez, Kevin Messenger, Rulon W. Clark, Pritpal Soorae, Luca Luiselli, Chris Jenkins, Harry W. Greene 2016. Identifying global priorities for the conservation of vipers. Biological Conservation, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.004 - 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]
  • Spawls, S., Branch, B. 2020. The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Bloomsbury, London, 336 pp. - 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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https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Echis&species=megalocephalus

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