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Gloydius himalayanus (GÜNTHER, 1864)

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Himalayan Pitviper
Local name: Pohur (Kashmir) 
SynonymHalys himalayanus GÜNTHER 1864: 303
Ancistrodon himalayanus BOULENGER 1896
Ancistrodon himalayanus — FENTON 1909
Ancistrodon himalayanus — SMITH 1943: 495
Agkistrodon himalayanus — WELCH 1994: 11
Gloydius himalayanus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 305
Gloydius himalayanus — GUMPRECHT et al. 2004
Agkistrodon himalayanus — SHARMA 2004
Agkistrodon himalayanus — MURTHY 2010
Gloydius himalayanus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 310 
DistributionPakistan (Chitral, Murree (= Marri)),
India (Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal), Bhutan,
W/C Nepal (Gloyd and Conant, 1990; Map 12), elevation up to 4880 m (Shi et al. 2017)

Type locality: Garhval, Himalaya, elevation 9000 ft. [= Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh = Uttaranchal, India, 2743 m.  
Reproductionovovivparous; mating behavior: Dolia & Das 2023. 
TypesTypes: BMNH 1946.1.18.75 (formerly BMNH 1860.3.19.1189) and BMNH 1946.1.19.64 (formerly BMNH 1860.3.19.1358) (two syntypes), "Garhval" (= Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh, India). 
Diagnosis 
CommentVenomous! Fenton 1909 reported several cases of bites by this species.

Synonymy: Gloyd and Conant (1990) suggested the retention of himalayanus in Agkistrodon, rather than treat it as a member of the genus Gloydius.

The original description is available online (see link below).

Distribution: Possibly in Bhutan (Lenz 2012). For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality. 
References
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. - get paper here
  • Chaudhuri, A; Mukherjee, S; Chowdhury, S & Purkayastha, J 2018. Geographic Distribution: Gloydius himalayanus (Himalayan Pitviper). Herpetological Review 49 (3): 505 - get paper here
  • Dolia, J., & Das, A. 2023. First record of mating and dichromatism in the Himalayan Pit Viper (Gloydius himalayanus Günther 1864). Reptiles & Amphibians, 30(1), e18095-e18095 - get paper here
  • Fenton, L.L. 1909. The Snakes of Kashmir. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 19: 1002 - get paper here
  • Gloyd, H. K. & R. CONANT 1990. Snakes of the Agkistrodon complex. A monographic review. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Contributions to Herpetology No. 6. SSAR, Oxford, Ohio. vi + 614 pp; 52 pl.
  • Gumprecht, A.; Tillack, F.; Orlov, N.L.; Captain, A. & Ryabow, S. 2004. Asian pitvipers. Geitje Books, Berlin, 368 pp.
  • Günther, A. 1864. The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp. - get paper here
  • Jamal, Qaisar; Muhammad Idrees, Saif Ullah, Muhammad Adnan, Farrah Zaidi, Qaiser Zaman, and Syed Basit Rasheed 2018. Diversity and Altitudinal Distribution of Squamata in Two Distinct Ecological Zones of Dir, A Himalayan Sub-Zone of Northern Pakistan. Pakistan J. Zool., vol. 50(5), pp 1835-1839 - get paper here
  • Kästle , W., Rai, K. & Schleich, H.H. 2013. FIELD GUIDE to Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. ARCO-Nepal e.V., 625 pp. - get paper here
  • Khan, M.S. 1983. Venomous terrestrial snakes of Pakistan. The Snake 15 (2): 101-105.
  • Lenz, Norbert 2012. Von Schmetterlingen und Donnerdrachen - Natur und Kultur in Bhutan. Karlsruher Naturhefte 4, Naturkundemuseum Karlsruhe, 124 pp.
  • Manhas, Amit 2020. Observations of Himalayan Pitvipers, Gloydius himalayanus (Günther 1864), in the Doda District, Jammu and Kashmir, India. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 27 (3): 476-478 - 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.
  • Murthy, T.S.N. 2010. The reptile fauna of India. B.R. Publishing, New Delhi, 332 pp.
  • Nanhoe, L.M.R., & Ouboter, P.E. 1987. The distribution of reptiles and amphibians in the Annapurna-Dhaulagiri region (Nepal). Zoologische Verhandelingen (240): 1-105 - get paper here
  • Sahi D.N., Koul S. 2020. Annotated List of Amphibians and Reptiles of Jammu and Kashmir State. In: Dar G. & Khuroo A. (eds) Biodiversity of the Himalaya: Jammu and Kashmir State. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 18. Springer, Singapore - get paper here
  • Saikia, U.; Sharma, D.K. & Sharma, R.M. 2007. Checklist of the Reptilian fauna of Himachal Pradesh, India. Reptile Rap (8): 6-9 - get paper here
  • Sharma, R. C. 2004. Handbook Indian Snakes. AKHIL BOOKS, New Delhi, 292 pp.
  • Shi J-S, Liu J-C, Giri R, Owens JB, Santra V, Kuttalam S, Selvan M, Guo K-J, Malhotra A 2021. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the genus Gloydius (Squamata, Viperidae, Crotalinae), with description of two new alpine species from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. ZooKeys 1061: 87-108 - get paper here
  • Shi, Jingsong; Gang Wang; Xi’er Chen; Yihao Fang; Li Ding; Song Huang; Mian Hou, Jun Liu, and Pipeng Li 2017. A new moth-preying alpine pit viper species from Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (Viperidae, Crotalinae). Amphibia-Reptilia, 38 (4): 517 – 532;<br />DOI: 10.1163/15685381-00003134 - get paper here
  • Sindaco, R.; Alberto Venchi & Cristina Grieco 2013. The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2: Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, with an Update to Volume 1. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 543 pp. - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
  • Swan, L.W., & Leviton, A.E. 1962. The herpetology of Nepal: a history, check list, and zoogeographical analysis of the herpetofauna. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 32 (6) (4.s.): 103-147. - get paper here
  • Wall, F. 1906. The poisonous snakes of India and how to recognize them, Part II. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 17: 299-334 - 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.
  • Wangyal, Jigme Tshelthrim 2019. The status of herpetofauna of Bhutan. District Forest Office, District Administration, Trashigang, Bhutan, 20-39 - get paper here
  • Whitaker, Romulus and Ashok Captain 2004. Snakes of India. Draco Books, 500 pp., reprinted 2007 - get paper here
 
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