Tropidolaemus huttoni

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Tropidolaemus huttoni
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Genus: Tropidolaemus
Species:
T. huttoni
Binomial name
Tropidolaemus huttoni
(M.A. Smith, 1949)
Synonyms [2]
  • Trimeresurus huttoni
    M.A. Smith, 1949
  • Tropidolaemus huttoni
    David & Vogel, 1998
Common names: Hutton's pit viper. [3] Hutton's tree viper, [4]

Tropidolaemus huttoni is a little-known species of pit viper, a venomous snake in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. The species is endemic to the southern Western Ghats of India. There are no subspecies that are currently recognized. [5] Little is known about this species, as this species is known only from two young individuals, based on which it was first described in 1949. Despite long-term and targeted herpetological surveys in the particular hill range (Meghamalai), it has never been re-sighted there or elsewhere since then.

Contents

A possible third specimen from the northern Western Ghats is considered to be of doubtful identity at best, as it shares several features typical of T. wagleri complex as well; and its provenance is also currently unresolved.

Etymology

The specific name, huttoni, is in honor of its discoverer, Angus Finlay Hutton, a planter and naturalist. [6]

Description

The coloration and size of adults of T. huttoni is unknown.

Juveniles are green dorsally, with a series of small white spots on both sides, located on the 2nd & 3rd scale rows from the vertebral row. There is distinct red eye streak on both sides of the head. Ventrally they are pale green, except for the last 25 subcaudals, which are dull reddish brown.

The holotype specimen is only 136 mm (5+38 inches) in total length, 98 mm (3+78 inches) in snout-vent length (SVL), and the tail is 38 mm (1+12 inches) long. [7]

Geographic range

Tropidolaemus huttoni is found in the Meghamalai Hills in the southern Western Ghats, situated in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, southern India. It is known only from the type locality, which is listed as "High Wavy Mountains, Theni district, southern India". According to David and Vogel (1998), this is a plateau on the western central edge of the Varushanad Hills, at 1,590 m (5,200 feet) elevation, in Theni district, Tamil Nadu. [2]

Biology and natural history

Little is known of the biology and natural history of T. huttoni. The original description states that the two juvenile specimens were collected together, both evidently belonging to the same brood. The region was, during Hutton's days, covered by dense tropical rainforests; but is now partly covered by tea plantations. [1]

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The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers, or pit adders, are a subfamily of vipers found in Asia and the Americas. Like all other vipers, they are venomous. They are distinguished by the presence of a heat-sensing pit organ located between the eye and the nostril on both sides of the head. Currently, 23 genera and 155 species are recognized: These are also the only viperids found in the Americas. The groups of snakes represented here include rattlesnakes, lanceheads, and Asian pit vipers. The type genus for this subfamily is Crotalus, of which the type species is the timber rattlesnake, C. horridus.

<i>Trimeresurus</i> Genus of snakes

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<i>Craspedocephalus strigatus</i> Species of reptile

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<i>Protobothrops jerdonii</i> Species of venomous snake

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<i>Craspedocephalus macrolepis</i> Species of snake

Craspedocephalus macrolepis, commonly known as the large-scaled pit viper, is a venomous pitviper species endemic to the Southern Western Ghats of South India. No subspecies are currently recognized.

<i>Craspedocephalus malabaricus</i> Species of snake

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<i>Trimeresurus popeiorum</i> Species of snake

Trimeresurus popeiorum is a species of venomous pit viper in the family Viperidae. The species is native to northern and northeastern parts of India and Southeast Asia. Common names include: Pope's pit viper, Pope's green pit viper, Pope's tree viper and Pope's bamboo pitviper.

<i>Trimeresurus septentrionalis</i> Species of snake

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Uropeltis dindigalensis, commonly known as the Dindigul uropeltis and the Sirumalai Hills earth snake, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to Sirumalai and surrounding hill ranges of the southern Eastern Ghats, in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu state in South India.

<i>Tropidolaemus</i> Genus of snakes

Tropidolaemus is a genus of venomous pit vipers found in southern India and Southeast Asia. Currently, 5 species are recognised and no subspecies.

<i>Tropidolaemus wagleri</i> Species of snake

Tropidolaemus wagleri, more commonly known as Wagler's pit viper, is a species of venomous snake, a pit viper in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. The species is endemic to Southeast Asia. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid. It is sometimes referred to as the temple viper because of its abundance around the Temple of the Azure Cloud in Malaysia.

Tree viper may refer to:

<i>Trimeresurus kanburiensis</i> Species of snake

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<i>Craspedocephalus brongersmai</i> Species of snake

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Angus Finlay Hutton was a British naturalist born in India. Working in the High Wavy range, he discovered a species of pit viper that is now named after him as Hutton's pit viper. He also collected a species of bat that was later named as Salim Ali's fruit bat after Indian ornithologist Salim Ali. Until his death is 2016, Hutton was the oldest living member of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). He helped set up butterfly gardens in Southeast Asia before settling in Queensland, Australia.

<i>Trimeresurus salazar</i> Species of snake

Trimeresurus salazar, also known as Salazar's pit viper, is a species of venomous, green pit viper first discovered in 2019 in the lowlands of the western part of Arunachal Pradesh, India; the fifth new reptile species to be discovered in the region in 2019. It was named after Salazar Slytherin from the Harry Potter series. It has a dark green head and yellowish green dorsal scales on the rest of its body. The species is sexually dichromatic; the males have reddish-orange and yellow-orange stripes and a rusty red-orange tail that the females lack. Its habitat is under threat from human development activities.

References

  1. 1 2 Ganesh SR, Achyuthan NS (2021). "Tropidolaemus huttoni ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T202852A2757341.en. Accessed on 12 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN   1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN   1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  3. Brown, John Haynes (1973). Toxicology and Pharmacology of Venoms from Poisonous Snakes. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 184 pp. LCCCN 73-229. ISBN   0-398-02808-7.
  4. Mehrtens JM (1987). Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN   0-8069-6460-X.
  5. "Tropidolaemus huttoni ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved 27 September 2006.
  6. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5. (Tropidolaemus huttoni, p. 128).
  7. David, Patrick; Vogel, Gernot (1998). "Redescription of Trimeresurus huttoni SMITH, 1949 (Serpentes, Crotalinae), with a Discussion of its Relationships". Hamadryad22 (2): 73-87. (Tropidolaemus huttoni, new combination).

Further reading