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Vipera nikolskii

Common names: Nikolsky's adder, forest-steppe adder.

Vipera nikolskii is a species of venomous snake in the subfamily Viperinae of the family Viperidae. The species is native to Ukraine, eastern Romania, and southwestern Russia. No subspecies are recognized as being valid.

Etymology

The specific name, nikolskii, is in honor of Russian herpetologist Alexander Mikhailovich Nikolsky.

Description

Adults of Vipera nikolskii are short and thick-bodied, growing to a maximum total length (including tail) of .

Holotype: ZDKU 14704, according to Golay et al. (1993).

Geographic distribution

Vipera nikolskii is spread in Central Ukraine and southwestern Russia. Mallow et al. (2003) mention that the distribution is concentrated in the forest-steppe zone of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine.

The type locality, according to Golay et al. (1993), is the banks of the Uda River, between Besljudovka and Vasishtshevo, near Kharkiv.

Also, V. nikolskii was recently found in the eastern and southern part of Romania and Basarabia (Republic of Moldova) by et al. (2010) and et al. (2008). It recently occurred on a ridge in the Low Tatras, Slovakia.

References

Further reading

  • Golay P, Smith HM, Broadley DG, Dixon JR, , , , (1993). Endoglyphs and Other Major Venomous Snakes of the World. A Checklist. Geneva: Azemiops. . 478 pp.
  • ; Zamfirescu, Ştefan Remus; Nicoară, Andreea; ; Sas-Kovacs, Istvan; Pușcașu, Cristina M.; Bugeac, Teodor (2008). "Preliminary data regarding the distribution of the herpetofauna in Iași County (Romania)". North-Western Journal of Zoology 4 (Supplement 1): S1–S23.
  • , , (1986). ["On the taxonomy of the three viper species in the Vipera kaznakowi complex"]. In: Ananjeva N, (editors). "Systematics and Ecology of Amphibians and Reptiles". Proceedings of the Zoological Institute, Leningrad 157: 55–61. (Vipera nikolskii, new species). (in Russian).
  • ; Țurcanu, Vladimir; Strugariu, Alexandru (2010). "Distribution and morphological variation of Vipera berus nikolskii Vedmederja, Grubant et Rudaeva, 1986 in Western Ukraine, The Republic of Moldova and Romania". Amphibia-Reptilia 31 (1): 51–67.