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Protobothrops mucrosquamatus (CANTOR, 1839)

IUCN Red List - Protobothrops mucrosquamatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Brown spotted pitviper
Chinese: 原矛头蝮 
SynonymTrigonocephalus mucrosquamatus CANTOR 1839: 32
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus — GÜNTHER 1864: 390
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus — FISCHER 1886: 66
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus — BOULENGER 1890: 428
Lachesis mucrosquamatus — BOULENGER 1896: 552
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus — STEJNEGER 1907: 467
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus — MAKI 1931
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus mucrosquamatus — BOURRET 1935: 12
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus — SMITH 1943: 507
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus — HOGE & ROMANO-HOGE 1983
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus — KRAUS et al. 1996
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus — Tu et al. 2000
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus — ZIEGLER 2002: 282
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus — GUMPRECHT et al. 2004
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus — SHARMA 2004
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus — GUO et al. 2006
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 573
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus — WANG et al. 2022 
DistributionBangladesh, India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh (Itanagar – Papum Pare district) [A. Captain, pers. Comm.], Mizroam, Nagaland and other regions), Myanmar (= Burma), N/C Vietnam (Hoa Binh), Laos, Thailand (Nan),
S China (from Yunnan north to Gansu in the west, east to Zhejiang; Fukien, Kwangsi, Kwangtun, Sichuan, Hainan, Fujian), Taiwan

Introduced to Japan (with stable populations on Okinawa, fide Ibuki Fukuyama, pers. comm., 8 Sep 2023)

Type locality: Naga Hills, Assam, India.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: Unknown; original description probably based on colored drawing no. 18 in Bodleian Library, Oxford) (fide LEVITON et al. 2003). 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS (DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS). Scales in 25 longitudinal rows at midbody; scales on upper surface of head, small, each scale keeled posteriorly; internasals 5–10 times size of adjacent scales, separated by 3–4 scales; supraoculars, long, narrow, undivided, 14–16 small interocular scales in line between them; 2 scales on line between upper preocular and nasal; 9–11 upper labials, first upper labial separated from nasal by suture; 2–3 small scales between upper labials and subocular; 2–3 rows of temporal scales above upper labials smooth, above those scales keeled; ventrals 200–218; subcaudals 76–91, all paired; grayish or olive brown above, with dorsal series of large brown, black-edged spots or blotches, and a lateral series of smaller spots; head above brownish, below whitish; belly whitish but heavily powdered with light brown; tail brownish (possibly pink in life [fide Smith 1943:507]), with series of dark dorsal spots; hemipenes spinose. Total length males 1122 mm, females 1160; tail length males 195 mm, females 205 mm. [after LEVITON 2003]
 
CommentVenomous!

Distribution: Possibly in Bhutan (Lenz 2012). See map in Guo et a. 2016: 383 (Fig. 1).

NMo cryptic taxon is present within this widely distributed snake (Guo et al. 2019) 
References
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