Trimeresurus flavomaculatus explained

Trimeresurus flavomaculatus (Philippine pit viper)[1] is a venomous pit viper species endemic to the Philippines. Two subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.

Description

According to Leviton (1964), the scalation includes 21 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 170–178/175–184 ventral scales in males/females, 62–71/58–63 subcaudal scales in males/females, and 9–11 supralabial scales of which the 3rd is the largest. Toriba and Sawai (1990) give 167–179/172–184 ventral scales in males/females, 56–70/53–63 subcaudal scales in males/females, and 9–10/9–12 supralabial scales in males/females.[1]

Geographic range

Found on the Philippine islands of Agutayan, Batan, Camiguin, Catanduanes, Dinagat, Jolo, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Panay and Polillo. The type locality given is "Philippine Islands". Leviton (1964) proposed that this be restricted to "Luzon Island".

Subspecies

SubspeciesTaxon authorCommon nameGeographic range
T. f. flavomaculatus(Gray, 1842)Philippine pit viperPhilippine islands of Agutayan, Bohol, Camiguin, Catanduanes, Dinagat, Jolo, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros and Panay.
T. f. halieusGriffin, 1910The Philippines on the island of Polillo.

Taxonomy

Gumprecht (2001, 2002) relegates T. f. halieus to synonymy and elevates T. f. mcgregori to a full species.[1]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. Asian Pit vipers. GeitjeBooks. Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. .