Protobothrops elegans

Protobothrops elegans is a pit viper species endemic to Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. No subspecies are currently recognized. Common names include: elegant pit viper, , and elegant tree viper.

Description

Scalation of Protobothrops elegans includes 25 (sometimes 23) rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 179–192 (males) or 182–196 (females) ventral scales, 63–90 subcaudal scales, and 8 (sometimes 7 or 9) supralabial scales.

During 1965–2011, 2447 snakebites from this snake are reported with one fatality.

Geographic distribution

Protobothrops elegans is found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands, specifically in the Yaeyama Islands. The type locality is unknown. Boulenger listed it as "---- ?" while Gray's original 1849 description gives "West Coast of [North?] America." A restriction to "Ishigaki-Shima [Ryukyu Islands, Japan]" was proposed by Stejneger (1907).

See also

• Snakebite

References

Further reading

• Gray, J.E. (1849). Catalogue of the Specimens of Snakes in the Collection of the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum. xv + 125 pp. (Craspedocephalus elegans, new species, p. 7.)