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Montivipera raddei (BOETTGER, 1890)

IUCN Red List - Montivipera raddei - Near Threatened, NT
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesMontivipera raddei raddei (BOETTGER 1890)
Montivipera raddei kurdistanica (NILSON & ANDRÉN 1986) 
Common NamesE: Caucasus Viper
G: Armenische Bergotter, Raddes Otter 
SynonymVipera raddei BOETTGER 1890: 62
Vipera xanthina — STRAUCH 1869: 73 (not of GRAY 1849)
Coluber raddei — NIKOLSKY 1916: 250
Vipera lebetina raddei — SCHWARZ 1936: 240
Vipera albicornuta NILSON & ANDREN 1985
Daboia raddei — ENGELMANN et al. 1993
Vipera albicornuta — WELCH 1994: 119
Vipera (Montivipera) raddei — NILSON et al. 1999: 101
Vipera raddei — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 407
Vipera albicornuta — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999
Montivipera raddei — WERNING & WOLF 2007
Montivipera raddei — GARRIGUES et al. 2005
Vipera (Montivipera) raddei — VENCHI & SINDACO 2006
Montivipera albicornuta — RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al. 2008
Montivipera albicornuta — RAJABIZADEH et al. 2011
Montivipera raddei — WALLACH et al. 2014: 459
Montivipera albicornuta — SAFDARIAN et al. 2016
Montivipera albicornuta — TUNIYEV et al. 2019

Montivipera raddei raddei (BOETTGER 1890)
Vipera raddei BOETTGER 1890
Vipera xanthina raddei — MERTENS 1952
Daboia raddei raddei — OBST 1983: 233
Vipera raddei raddei — WELCH 1994: 123
Montivipera raddei raddei — RAJABIZADEH et al. 2011

Montivipera raddei kurdistanica (NILSON & ANDRÉN 1986)
Vipera raddei kurdistanica NILSON & ANDRÉN 1986
Vipera raddei kurdistanica — WELCH 1994: 123
Vipera kurdistanica — NILSON et al. 1999
Montivipera raddei kurdistanica — RAJABIZADEH et al. 2011
Montivipera raddei kurdistanica — KUCHARZEWSKI 2011 
DistributionS Armenia, Nakhichevan (Azerbaijan), NE Turkey, NW Iran

raddei: E Turkey, NW Iran, adjacent Turkmenistan. Type locality: Kasikoparan in Armenien. Elevation up to 3000 m.

albicornuta: NW Iran; type locality: Abhar in the Zanjan valley, between Tabriz and Teheran, NW Iran.

kurdistanica: SE Turkey, adjacent Iraq and Iran.  
Reproduction(ovo-) viparous. 
TypesSyntypes: lost, formerly ZMT (= Georgian Museum in Tbilisi), now lost fide NILSON & ANDREN 1986; Topotype: BMNH
Holotype: RSI 3098 [albicornuta]
Holotype: RSI 3128 [kurdistanica] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (raddei): Nilson & Andrén 1986: 52


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CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: Vipera albicornuta NILSON & ANDREN 1985 is a synonym of V. raddei (GOLAY et al. 1993 and JOGER, pers. comm.) although several authors have treated it as separate species. GOLAY et al. 1993 also treat V. latifi as subspecies of V. raddei.

Distribution: for a map with localities in Turkey see Mebert et al. 2020: 172 (Fig. 2). For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. 
EtymologyNamed after G.v. Radde who sent the types to Boettger (but which were collected by Christoph).

M. r. kurdistanica ws named after its distribution in Kurdistan (SE Turkey, adjacent Iraq) 
References
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