Echis carinatus sochureki

Echis carinatus sochureki
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Viperinae
Genus: Echis
Species: E. carinatus
Subspecies: E. c. sochureki
Trinomial name
Echis carinatus sochureki
Stemmler, 1969
Synonyms
  • Echis carinatus sochureki Stemmler, 1969
  • Echis sochureki sochureki
    Cherlin, 1983
  • Echis [(Turanechis)] sochureki Cherlin, 1990
  • Echis [(Turanechis)] sochureki sochureki
    Cherlin, 1990
  • Echis carinata sochureki
    Das, 1996[1]
Common names: Sochurek's saw-scaled viper, eastern saw-scaled viper,[2] Stemmler's saw-scaled viper.[3]

Echis carinatus sochureki is a venomous viper subspecies[4] found in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and parts of the Arabian Peninsula.

Etymology

The subspecific name, sochureki, is in honor of Austrian herpetologist Erich Sochurek.[3]

Description

The head is covered with small scales, except for 3-4 enlarged supraoculars. Midbody there are 29-33 rows of keeled dorsal scales. The keels of the middorsal rows are flat.[2]

The dorsal color pattern consists of a tan, grayish, or brown ground color with a central series of 30 whitish (never yellowish) blotches with dark brown edges. The flanks are marked with a row of wide arcs with distinct dark spots. The belly is whitish, with dark gray flecks. The head has a light arrow mark directed towards the snout. A light loreal stripe extends towards the angle of mouth.[2]

Geographic range

It is found in Northern India, Pakistan, southern Afghanistan, south and central Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.[5]

The Wildlife of Pakistan website gives the range as northern India, Pakistan (except the high mountains in north), southern Afghanistan, central Iran to the coast of the Iranian Gulf and Khuzestan.[2]

The type locality is "West Pakistan, Ban Kushdil Khan bei Pishin" (Pishin, West Pakistan).[1]

Reproduction

This subspecies is oviparous.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Saw-scaled Viper, ... at Wildlife of Pakistan, Accessed 3 August 2006.
  3. 1 2 Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins; Michael Grayson. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 312 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Echis sochureki, pp. 248, 253).
  4. "Echis carinatus sochureki". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 3 August 2006.
  5. Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. 359 pp. ISBN 0-89464-877-2.

Further reading

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