Kingdom Animalia Order Squamata Family Viperidae Scientific name Trimeresurus elegans Higher classification Trimeresurus | Subphylum Vertebrata Suborder Serpentes Subfamily Crotalinae Phylum Chordata Rank Species | |
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Similar Ovophis okinavensis, Snake, Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus, Trimeresurus tokarensis, Protobothrops | ||
Trimeresurus elegans is a venomous pitviper species endemic to Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. No subspecies are currently recognized.
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Description
Scalation includes 25 (sometimes 23) rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 179-192 (males) or 182-196 (females) ventral scales, 63-90 subcaudal scales, and 8 (sometimes 7 or 9) supralabial scales.
During 1965-2011, 2447 snakebites from this snake are reported with one fatality.
Geographic range
It is found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. The type locality is unknown. Boulenger listed it as "---- ?" while Gray's original 1849 description gives "West Coast of [North?] America." A restriction to "Ishigaki-Shima [Ryukyu Islands, Japan]" was proposed by Stejneger (1907).
References
Trimeresurus elegans Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA