Calloselasma
| Calloselasma rhodostoma | |
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| File:Calloselasma rhodostoma.jpg | |
| Calloselasma rhodostoma in a 1916 illustration |
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Calloselasma
Cope, 1860
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| Species: |
C. rhodostoma
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| Binomial name | |
| Calloselasma rhodostoma (Kuhl, 1824)
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- Common names: Malayan ground pit viper, Malayan pit viper, Malayan ground snake, Malayan moccasin.
Calloselasma is a monotypic genus[3] created for a venomous pitviper species, C. rhodostoma, which is endemic to Southeast Asia from Thailand to northern Malaysia and on the island of Java.[2] No subspecies are currently recognized.[4]
Contents
Description
Attains an average total length of 76 cm (30 in), with females being slightly longer than males. Occasionally, they may grow as long as 91 cm (36 in).[5]
A specimen with a total length of 81 cm (32 in) has a tail 9 cm (3.5 in) long.
Dorsally it is reddish, grayish, or pale brown, with two series of large, dark brown, black-edged triangular blotches, which are alternating or opposite. There is also a thin dark brown vertebral stripe, which may be interrupted or indistinct in some specimens. The upper labials are pink or yellowish, and powdered with brown. There is a broad, dark brown, black-edged diagonal stripe from the eye to the corner of the mouth, with a narrower light-colored stripe above it. Ventrally it is yellowish, uniform or powdered or spotted with grayish brown.
The smooth dorsal scales are arranged in 21 rows at midbody. Ventrals 138-157; anal plate entire; subcaudals 34-54 pairs.
Snout pointed and upturned. Rostral as deep as broad. Two internasals and two prefrontals. Frontal as long as or slightly longer than its distance from tip of snout, as long as or slightly shorter than the parietals. 7-9 upper labials. Loreal pit not in contact with the upper labials.[6]
This is the only Asian pit viper with large crown scales and smooth dorsal scales.[7]
Geographic range
Found in Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, northern West Malaysia and on the Indonesian island of Java. The type locality is listed as "Java".[2] There are unconfirmed, but credible reports from southern Myanmar (Burma), northern Sumatra and northern Borneo.
Habitat and Diet
Prefers coastal forests, bamboo thickets, unused and overgrown farmland, orchards, plantations as well as forests around plantations,[5] where it searches for rats and mice.
Reproduction
This species is oviparous and the eggs are guarded by the female after deposition.[7]
Venom
This species has a reputation for being bad-tempered and quick to strike. In northern Malaysia it is responsible for some 700 incidents of snakebite annually with a mortality rate of about 2 percent. Remarkably sedentary, it has often been found in the same spot several hours after an incident involving humans.[7] Its venom causes severe pain and local swelling and sometimes tissue necrosis, but deaths are not common. Unfortunately many victims are left with dysfunctional or amputated limbs due to the lack of antivenom and early treatment.
See also
- List of crotaline species and subspecies
- Crotalinae by common name
- Crotalinae by taxonomic synonyms
- Snakebite
References
- ↑ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/192168/0
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
- ↑ Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the...Viperidæ... Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I.-XXV. (Ancistrodon rhodostoma, pp. 527-528.)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 U.S. Navy. 1991. Poisonous Snakes of the World. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. ISBN 0-486-26629-X.
Further reading
- Kuhl, H. 1824. Sur les Reptiles de Java. Bull Sci. nat. Géol. 2: 79-83. (Trigonocephalus rhodostoma)
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
- Calloselasma at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 9 August 2007.
- Calloselasma at Herpbreeder.com. Accessed 26 September 2006.
- Calloselasma image at Glades Herp. Accessed 9 August 2007.
- C. rhodostoma at Thailand Snakes. Accessed 21 Dec 2014.
