Trimeresurus elegans | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Viperidae |
Subfamily: | Crotalinae |
Genus: | Trimeresurus |
Species: | T. elegans |
Binomial name | |
Trimeresurus elegans (Gray, 1849) |
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Synonyms | |
Trimeresurus elegans is a venomous pitviper species endemic to Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. No subspecies are currently recognized.
Scalation 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.
It is found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu 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).