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Pseudocerastes urarachnoides BOSTANCHI, ANDERSON, KAMI & PAPENFUSS, 2006

IUCN Red List - Pseudocerastes urarachnoides - Data Deficient, DD

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Iranian spider viper
G: Spinnenschwanzviper 
SynonymPseudocerastes urarachnoides BOSTANCHI, ANDERSON, KAMI & PAPENFUSS 2006
Pseudocerastes urarachnoides — GOWER et al. 2012: 84
Pseudocerastes urarachnoides — WALLACH et al. 2014: 600( 
DistributionIran (Ilam, Kermanshah, Khuzestan Provinces), ca. 200 m elevation; Iraq

Type locality: Iran: Ilam Province: 70 km SW Ilam [probably on road to Amirabad and Mehran]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: FMNH 170929, female, collected by Daniel R. Womochel and Anthony F. DeBlase, Second Street Expedition to Iran, 27 August 1968.
Paratype: ZMGU [male], 1300, Iran: Kermanshah Province: 25 km south of Qasr-e-Shirin on road to Gilan-e Gharb, open level area in agricultural region, ca. 200 meters elevation, collected by Hamid Bostanchi, May 15, 2001 at about 0800 hrs. 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS: A Pseudocerastes with a short tail (TL/T= 9.65), few pairs of subcaudals (15 in the known specimens), the distal pairs forming an oval knob-like structure; lateral dorsal caudal scales projected to form elongate "appendages" alongside terminal knob. Several rows of lateral dorsal scales are weakly keeled.

Description: Known only from two specimens. The holotype, a female was collected in 1968 in the Ilam Province of Western Iran. The paratype thought to be a juvenile male was collected in 2001. The head of the holotype was badly damaged and head characteristics are based on the paratype; 'Head depressed snout short and broadly rounded; the upper head scales small, imbricate, keeled; there is an erect horn-like scale above each eye surrounded by small imbricate scales'. Body scales are strongly keeled, but several lateral scales are feebly keeled and 23 rows at mid-body. The anal is entire with 145 ventrals. The anal is entire, the tail is short with just 15 paired subcaudals. The scales adjoining the subcaudals have elongated keels becoming progressively longer at the distal end; the longest measuring 11.2 mm. The tail terminates in an elongate oval bulb-like structure measuring 10.4 mm made up of last pair of subcaudals and a single enlarged dorsal scale. It is stated that this elaborate ornamentation gives the impression of arthropod or spider legs. Recently a live specimen was examined, and it appears that the body scales can be erected to make them appear even more carinate; plus the description of the head is confirmed as accurate (FaTHInIa, pers. comm.). (Phelps 2010: 440) 
Comment 
EtymologyFrom the Greek: ura = tail; arachno= spider; ides= similar to. 
References
  • AL-SHEIKHLY, O.F., AL-BARAZENGY, A.N. & AL-HAIDERI, M.L. 2019. Erstnachweis der Iranischen Spinnenschwanzviper Pseudocerastes urarachnoides Bostanchi, Anderson, Kami & Papenfuss, 2006 (Serpentes: Viperidae) im Irak. Sauria 41 (3): 43-46 - get paper here
  • AL-SHEIKHLY, O.F., HABA, M. K., AL-RIKABI, H.O. & AL-HAIDERI, M.L. 2020. Neue Fundorte der Iranischen Spinnenschwanzviper Pseudocerastes urarachnoides (Serpentes: Viperidae) im Irak. Sauria 42 (3): 73-76 - get paper here
  • Anderson, Steve 2021. A Hopeful Monster? Academia Letters Article 4441 - get paper here
  • Bok, Bobby; Matthieu Berroneau, Masoud Yousefi, Joachim Nerz, Frank Deschandol, Maud Berroneau, Laura Tiemann 2017. Sympatry of Pseudocerastes persicus and P. urarachnoides in the western Zagros Mountains, Iran. Herpetology Notes 10: 323-325 - get paper here
  • Bostanchi, Hamid; Anderson, Steven C.; Kami, Hagi Gholi; Papenfuss, Theodore J. 2006. A new species of Pseudocerastes with elaborate tail ornamentation from Western Iran (Squamata: Viperidae). Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 57 (14):443-450. - get paper here
  • Fathinia B, Rastegar‐Pouyani N, Rastegar‐Pouyani E. 2018. Molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of genera Eristicophis and Pseudocerastes (Ophidia, Viperidae). Zoologica Scripta 47: 673–685 - get paper here
  • Fathinia, Behzad and Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani 2010. On the Species of Pseudocerastes (Ophidia: Viperidae) in Iran. Russ. J. Herpetol. 17 (4): 275-279 - get paper here
  • Fathinia, Behzad; Dennis Rödder, Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani, Mahboubeh Sadat Hosseinzadeh & Seyed Mahdi Kazemi 2020. The past, current and future habitat range of the Spider-tailed Viper, Pseudocerastes urarachnoides (Serpentes: Viperidae) in western Iran and eastern Iraq as revealed by habitat modelling. Zoology in the Middle East - get paper here
  • Fathinia, Behzad; Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani, Fatemeh Todehdehghan and Fathollah Amiri 2015. Avian deception using an elaborate caudal lure in Pseudocerastes urarachnoides (Serpentes: Viperidae). Amphibia-Reptilia 36 (3): 223 - 231 - get paper here
  • Fathinia, Behzad; Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani, Fatemeh Todehdehghan, Mahmood Mansouri 2017. Annual activity pattern of Pseudocerastes urarachnoides BOSTANCHI, ANDERSON, KAMI & PAPENFUSS, 2006, with notes on its natural history (Squamata: Serpentes: Viperidae). Herpetozoa 29 (3/4): 135 - 142 - get paper here
  • Fathinia, Behzad; Steven C. Anderson, Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Hasan Jahani, and Hosien Mohamadi 2009. Notes on the Natural History of Pseudocerastes urarachnoides (Squamata: Viperidae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 16 (2): 134-138 - get paper here
  • Fathnia, B.; N. Rastegar Pouyani; H. Darvishnia; M. Rajabzadeh 2010. The snake fauna of Ilam Province, southwestern Iran. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 6 (1) - get paper here
  • Gholamifard, A 2011. Endemism in the reptile fauna of Iran. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 7 (1) - get paper here
  • Gower, D.; Garrett, K. & Stafford, P. 2012. Snakes. Firefly Books, Buffalo, NY,<br>144 p..
  • Kamali, Kamran 2020. A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Iran. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (www.chimaira.de). 574 pp.
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - 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]
  • Pouyani, N. R., Fathinia, B., & Rastegar-pouyani, E. 2021. Ecomorphological Study of Scales in Some Genera of the Viperid and Colubrid Snakes (Ophidia: Viperidae: Colubridae). Authorea Preprints - get paper here
  • Rajabizadeh, M. 2018. Snakes of Iran. [in Farsi] Tehran: Iranshenasi, 496 pp. [2017 ?] - get paper here
  • RASTEGAR-POUYANI, NASRULLAH; HAJI GHOLI KAMI, MEHDI RAJABZADEH, SOHEILA SHAFIEI AND STEVEN CLEMENT ANDERSON 2008. Annotated Checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Iran. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 4 (1): 7-30
  • Scholz, S. et al. 2020. Fields Trughornviper (Pseudocerastes fieldi) - Beobachtungen im Lebensraum und bei der Fortpflanzung im Terrarium. Elaphe 2020 (3): 68-77
  • 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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