Gloydius
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Common names: (none).
Gloydius is a genus of venomous pit vipers found in Asia. Named after Howard Gloyd, this group is very similar to the North American genus Agkistrodon. Nine species are currently recognized.[2]
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[edit] Geographic range
Found in Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, Himalayas from Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Korea, Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands.[1]
[edit] Species
| Species[2] | Authority[2] | Subsp.*[2] | Common name[3] | Geographic range[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G. blomhoffii | (H. Boie, 1826) | 3 | Mamushi | China, Korea and Japan. |
| G. halysT | (Pallas, 1776) | 4 | Halys pit viper | Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, Mongolia to northern and central China, as well as the southern Ryūkyū Islands. |
| G. himalayanus | (Günther, 1864) | 0 | Himalayan pit viper | Along the southern slopes of the Himalayas from northeastern Pakistan, to northern India (Kashmir, Punjab) and Nepal. Found at 1524-3048 m altitude. |
| G. intermedius | (Strauch, 1868) | 2 | Central Asian pit viper | Southeastern Azerbaijan, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, northwestern Afghanistan, southern Russia, northwestern China and Mongolia. |
| G. monticola | (Werner, 1922) | 0 | Likiang pit viper | The mountains of northern Yunnan in China. |
| G. saxatilis | (Emelianov, 1937) | 0 | Rock mamushi | Russia (eastern Siberia), northeastern China and North and South Korea. |
| G. shedaoensis | (Zhao, 1979) | 0 | Shedao Island pit viper | Shedao Island, off the coast of Liaotung, China. |
| G. strauchi | (Bedriaga, 1912) | 0 | Tibetan pit viper | The Tibetan Plateau in the provinces of Tsinghai and western Szechwan, China. |
| G. ussuriensis | (Emelianov, 1929) | 0 | Ussuri mamushi | Far east Russia (Primorskiy Kray), northeastern China, North and South Korea, as well as Quelpart Island. |
*) Not including the nominate subspecies (typical form).
T) Type species.
[edit] Taxonomy
Due to the strong morphological similarity, these snakes were classified in Agkistrodon until very recently. However, as of 1999 cladistic studies clearly show that Agkistrodon did not form a clade (indeed, it was not even paraphyletic), and has thus been split into several genera.
A new species, G. tsushimaensis, was described by Isogawa, Moriya & Mitsui (1994). It is referred to as the Tsushima island pitviper and is found only on Tsushima Island, Japan.
[edit] Cited references
- ^ a b c 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).
- ^ a b c d Gloydius (TSN 634414). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 17 October 2006.
- ^ Genus Gloydius at the EMBL Reptile Database
[edit] Other references
- Isogawa K, Moriya A, Mitsui S. 1994. A new snake from the genus Agkistrodon (Serpentes: Viperidae) from Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. Jap. J. Herpetol. 15:101-111.
