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Montivipera bulgardaghica (NILSON & ANDREN, 1985)

IUCN Red List - Montivipera bulgardaghica - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymVipera bulgardaghica NILSON & ANDREN 1985
Vipera bulgardaghica — NILSON et al. 1988
Vipera bulgardaghica — SCHMIDTLER et al. 1990
Vipera bulgardaghica — WELCH 1994: 121
Vipera bulgardaghica — DAVID & INEICH 1999
Vipera bulgardaghica — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999
Montivipera bulgardhaghica — PHELPS 2010
Montivipera bulgardaghica — WALLACH et al. 2014: 450 
DistributionSC Turkey, Syria

Type locality: Kar Boghaz, Bulgar Dag (= Bolkar Dagi), “Cilicischer Taurus” (Prov. Nigde).  
Reproduction(ovo-) viparous. 
TypesHolotype: GNM 1618, male ( (Göteborg Natural History Museum); paratype: NMW 
DiagnosisDiagnosis:-A high mountain species related to the Vipera xanthina species-group, but unique in having subocular scales in contact with supralabials; upper preocular in contact with nasal or nearly so; a much reduced number of lateral head scales: eleven or fewer scales (x̅ = 10) in the 1st circumocular ring and 13 or fewer (x̅ = 11.3) in the 2nd circumocular ring (eleven or more scales in 1st circumocular ring and 13 or more in 2nd circumocular ring in all other taxa within the V. xanthina complex). It also has a marked dorsal right-angled zig-zag pattern and a more or less pronounced transverse "bridle" over the snout. From the V. raddei species-group the new species differs further in lacking a complete circumocular ring, i.e., in having its supraocular plate in broad contact with the eye; in having only one canthal scale on each side of head and in being more stockily built. Description of Holotype.-An adult male, total length 481 mm, tail 39 mm, latter equal to 8.1% of total length. Head covered with small scales except for enlarged supraoculars, separated by a row of six interocular scales. One canthal on each side between supraocular and supranasal plates. Three apicals in contact with rostral. Intercanthal area covered by 11 scales, intersupraocular area covered by 24 scales. Supraoculars not angled and in broad contact with eye. Lower half of nasal on both sides fused with prenasal. Nine supralabials on each side, fourth separated from eye by one subocular scale on right side, two very small ones on left side. Inner circumocular ring containing ten scales on right side and nine on left. Outer circumocular ring interrupted on right side, with six plus five scales; 11 scales in left ring. Upper preocular enlarged and in contact with nasal on right side, very close to nasal on left. Twelve sublabials on each side. First pair of sublabials in contact behind mental. Chin shields twice as long as broad and bordered behind by four smaller plates. Dorsal scales except lowermost row keeled on body and tail. Two preventrals, 154 ventrals; anal single. Subcaudals 28/29 + 1. Twenty-three transverse scale rows on body one head length posterior of head, 23 on midbody, 17 one head length anterior to anal. Scale reduction formula (see Dowling, 1951) as follows: (see Nilson & Andrén 1985: 278) Dorsal ground color on holotype brownish grey with a blackish dorsal pattern of about 43/46 sinuate blotches towards right and left respectively. Two blackish oblique blotches on neck, separated from each other and from dorsal pattern. A narrow transverse band across snout anterior to supraoculars. A broad black band from posterior border of eye to corner of mouth. Small dark spots or bands on sutures between sublabials. A lateral row of dark blotches on body, each blotch on about fourth and fifth scale rows. Dorsal pattern a pronounced right angled zig-zag band or somewhat elongate or saddle shaped blotches. Central area in some blotches with lighter color (as in V. bornmuelleri). Belly greyish with numerous small dots and less pronounced small spots laterally. Throat whitish. (Nilson & André 1985: 277)


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CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: V. bulgardaghica is considered as a synonym of Vipera xanthina by some authors (JOGER, pers. comm.). However, GARRIGUES et al. (2005) found that V. bulgardaghica appears to be more closely related to V. albizona and thus a member of the Montivipera clade. Mebert et al. 2020 treat albizona as a subspecies of bulgardaghica.

Distribution: for a map with localities in Turkey see Mebert et al. 2020: 172 (Fig. 2) and 180 (Fig. 11). For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. 
References
  • Afsar, Murat; Batuhan Y. Yakin, Kerim Çiçek, Dinçer Ayaz 2019. A new subspecies of Ottoman viper, Montivipera xanthina (Gray, 1849), (Squamata: Viperidae) from Geyik Mountains, Mediterranean Turkey. Ecologica Montenegrina 22: 214-225 - get paper here
  • AHMAD, MUHAMMAD; KONRAD MEBERT, AROUB ALMASRI & NAHLA IBRAHIM. 2021. Status of Montivipera bulgardaghica (Werner, 1898) (Reptilia: Viperidae) in the Syrian Coastal Mountains. Zoology in the Middle East 67(3): 206–215. - get paper here
  • David,P. & Ineich,I. 1999. Les serpents venimeux du monde: systématique et répartition. Dumerilia 3: 3-499
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248
  • Geniez, Philippe 2018. Snakes of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Princeton University Press, 384 pp. - 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.
  • Mebert, Konrad; Bayram Göçmen, Naşit İğci, Mert Kariş, Mehmet Anıl Oğuz, Mehmet Zülfü Yıldız, Alexandre Teynié, Nikolaus Stümpel, and Sylvain Ursenbacher 2020. Mountain Vipers in Central-Eastern Turkey: Huge Range Extensions for Four Taxa Reshape Decades of Misleading Perspectives. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 15 (1): - get paper here
  • Nilson G; Andren C 1985. Systematics of the Vipera xanthina complex (Reptilia: Viperidae). 3. Taxonomic status of the Bulgar Dagh viper in south Turkey. Journal of Herpetology 19 (2): 276-283 - get paper here
  • Nilson, G., Andren, C., & Flärdh, B. 1988. Die Vipern der Türkei. Salamandra 24 (4): 215-247 - 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]
  • Schmidtler, Josef Friedrich;Eiselt, Josef;Sigg, Harry 1990. Die subalpine Herpetofauna des Bolkar-Gebirges (Mittlerer Taurus, Südtürkei). Herpetofauna 12 (64): 11-20 - 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
  • Stümpel, Nikolaus; Mehdi Rajabizadeh, Aziz Avcı, Wolfgang Wüster, Ulrich Joger 2016. Phylogeny and diversification of mountain vipers (Montivipera, Nilson et al. 2001) triggered by multiple Plio-Pleistocene refugia and high-mountain topography in the Near and Middle East. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.04.025 - 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.
  • Welch, K. R. G. 1994. Snakes of the World. A Checklist. I. Venomous snakes. KCM Books, Somerset, England.
 
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