Bitis gabonica rhinoceros
| Bitis gabonica rhinoceros | |
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| Bitis gabonica rhinoceros | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Viperidae |
| Genus: | Bitis |
| Species: | B. gabonica |
| Subspecies: | B. g. rhinoceros |
| Trinomial name | |
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Bitis gabonica rhinoceros (Schlegel, 1855) |
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Bitis gabonica rhinoceros is a venomous viper subspeciesendemic to West Africa. It is distinguished from the nominate subspecies, B. g. gabonica, primarily by the presence of a set of large nasal "horns".
B. g. rhinoceros has a distinctive set of enlarged nasal scales that look like a pair of horns on its nose. This is a characteristic that it shares with a close relative, B. nasicornis. However, B. nasicornis has a brighter color pattern and a narrower head.B. g. gabonica has no such enlarged nasal "horns", and is overall somewhat smaller than B. g. rhinoceros. Also, in B. g. gabonica, the dark triangular marking leading back from the eye towards the angle of the mouth is divided. In B. g. rhinoceros it is not.
B. g. rhinoceros is found in West Africa from Ghana west to Guinea, including Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast. Togo is also mentioned.
According to Spawls & Branch (1995), Ghana and Togo are at the eastern limit of the range of this subspecies, and they begin to intergrade here with B. g. gabonica. The distribution map they provide indicates that the general range for B. g. rhinoceros does not include Togo, but that there has been at least one report of a specimen found there. Togo, together with Benin and at least eastern Ghana, are part of a larger region known as the Dahomey Gap; a relatively dry region that separates the rainforests of West Africa from those of Central Africa.
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