Kingdom Animalia Suborder Serpentes Subfamily Crotalinae Scientific name Trimeresurus strigatus Higher classification Trimeresurus Order Scaled reptiles | Subphylum Vertebrata Family Viperidae Genus Trimeresurus Phylum Chordata Rank Species | |
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Similar Trimeresurus, Snake, Trimeresurus labialis, Trimeresurus cantori, Vipers | ||
Trimeresurus strigatus is a venomous pitviper species found in the Western Ghats. No subspecies are currently recognized.
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Geographic range
Found in the hills of southern India, Trimeresurus strigatus is distributed in the Nilgiri (Whitaker & Captain, 2004).
The type locality listed is "Cape of Good Hope?" and "Madras?" (Madras Presidency (and not the City), India). The former must be a mistake. Boulenger (1896) restricted the type locality to "Madras Presidency".
Description
Trimeresurus strigatus may be distinguished from other pit vipers of peninsular India based on the presence of small internasals, 2nd supralabial in contact with loreal pit, 21 rows of smooth or weakly-keeled dorsal scales at midbody, and a single row of scales between labials and suboculars. The common name of the species is based on the presence of a pale buff horseshoe-shaped (i.e., inverted 'U') mark on the nape. The snake is pale brownish or buff coloured with darker blotches of grey and some white streaks.
This species is essentially a terrestrial animal, with most of the sightings on ground or rock formations.
Of 12 snakes measured, the mean snout-vent length (SVL) was 24.4 ± 7.04 cm (9.6 ± 2.8 in), the tail length (tL) was 3.5 ± 0.8 cm (1.4 ± 0.3 in), and the weight was 172 ± 10.5 g (6 ± 0.4 oz).