Three-horned pit viper
| Three-horned pit viper | ||||||||||||
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| Protobothrops sieversorum | ||||||||||||
| ( Ziegler , Herrmann , David , Orlov & Pauwels , 2000) |
The protobothrops sieversorum even Dreigehörnte pit viper ( Protobothrops sieversorum , Syn. : Triceratolepidophis sieversorum ), is in Vietnam and Laos -based snake from the subfamily of pit vipers . The snake was first known to science in 1999; the local residents of the region of central Vietnam, where it was first found, had long known about the animal. Its name is Rắn lực gậm , which means something like "cloud snake " and refers to the characteristic scale pattern.
features
The three-horned pit viper is between 100 and 130 cm long, with the head around 4 cm and the tail 17 to 20 cm. The thickness is approximately 2 to 3 cm, while the weight varies from 200 to 230 g. It has two fangs around 1 cm long . The most characteristic feature are the three horns consisting of scales , one above the eyes and another on the nose, which also give rise to the name of this animal. Another feature is the construction of the body scales, which are shaped like a wedge triangle. The pattern of the back scales consists of large dark brown spots that alternate with yellow or beige stripes. The head shows a darker beige hue at the top, interspersed with some brown spots. The sides of the head are cream-colored, but behind the eyes there is a dark stripe up to the end of the head. The eye color is also beige with small dark spots, and the pupil is framed by orange stripes. The pattern of the scales makes the three-horned pit viper almost invisible on the algae-covered limestone subsoil, which dominates their home.
Distribution and way of life
So far, the three-horned pit viper is only known from the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in western Central Vietnam and the adjacent Hin-Namno biodiversity reserve in Central Laos . Both protected areas include extensive rainforest areas of the Truong Son Mountains, which here mainly consist of limestones that form large-scale karst formations . The climate is tropical and warm with high humidity, which varies between 50 and 100% depending on the season. The snake species occurs at altitudes of 150 to 250 m. It is probably an endemic species. It may originally have been more widespread, but the changing climate of the Ice Age split up the populations, similar to what is assumed for some mammal species in this region (e.g. the Indochinese pustular pig ). The characteristic scale pattern is an adaptation to the karst habitat in which the three-horned pit viper lives largely terrestrially, but also climbs trees (semi-arboreal). Sometimes it also retreats into caves or crevices. It also appears to be nocturnal. In the event of danger or threatening posture, the tail begins to vibrate.
Few studies are available to date on the diet and life cycle of this snake species. Between 2004 and 2006, four snakes of this species were studied at the Faculty of Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences . The three-horned pit viper mainly fed on small mammals such as mice and rats , but also on frogs and lizards . However, there were longer periods between the phases of feeding, in which the snakes did not eat anything, so that feeding took place three to eight times a year, depending on the activity.
The three-horned pit viper reproduces, in contrast to most pit vipers, oviparously . The species only mates once a year, around 115 days after fertilization the female lays up to 12 eggs. The eggs are elongated, light gray and lightly pigmented. Their size is 35 by 22 mm; the membrane is semi-transparent. After two months, young animals up to 30 cm long hatch from them.
Snake venom
The effect of the venom of the three-horned pit viper was first investigated in 2003. It has a strong hemorrhagic (blood-destructive) effect. Local swellings may occur when bitten . These are associated with bleeding , blistering, and pain . Furthermore, there is nausea , vomiting , diarrhea and poor circulation . When treatment is allowed Pressure / Immobilization Technique not be used because it can lead to serious sequelae. The average lethal dose is 5 to 6 mg per kg of body weight. So far there is little medical data.
Discovery story
The protobothrops sieversorum was at a 1999 expedition by members of the Cologne zoo discovered and in the following year described . The only type available at that time (ZFMK 71262) was a dead male animal, which the researchers had found in a snake liquor bottle at a local pharmacist in Phong Nha (Central Vietnam) . At first it was unclear whether this species also occurs naturally in the region. On another expedition in 2001, they were able to observe living specimens for the first time in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, including a female. Later research revealed that a dead and incomplete animal of this species had already been found in 1998 in the Hin Namno Biodiversity Conservation Area on Laotian territory and adjacent to the national park and brought to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago . The area is known for its high biodiversity and may be home to numerous other previously unknown animal and plant species.
Systematics
In the first scientific description of the three-horned pit viper in 2000 , the snake was assigned to the newly established genus Triceratolepidophis . This name is derived from the Greek and means three (τρεῖς, treis ) horn (κέρας, kéras ) scale (λεπίς, lepis ) snake (ὄφεις, ópheis ). According to recent studies, it is now classified in the genus Protobothrops , to which around half a dozen species belong. The closest related species are the widely dispersed Protobothrops kaulbacki from southern China and Protobothrops mangshanensis from Burma, also native to Southeast Asia . Another sister species is Protobothrops cornutus , which has been considered lost since the 1940s and was rediscovered in the early 2000s and with which the three-horned pit viper lives sympathetically in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The closest related genus is Ovophis with which Protobothrops forms a closely related clade within the pit vipers . The species was named sieversorum after the children of the Bönningstedt doctor Dr. Sievers, who had previously financially supported the research project with the help of donations to the BIOPAT association .
Danger
The three-horned pit viper is occasionally caught by the local population for food preparation. To a small extent, deforestation can also contribute to the local risk. The snake is by the IUCN as endangered ( endangered classified).
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Hans-Werner Herrmann, Thomas Ziegler, Bryan L. Stuart and Nikolai L. Orlov: New findings on the distribution, morphology and natural history of Triceratolepidophis sieversorum (Serpentes: Viperidae). Herpetological Natural History 9/1, 2002, pp. 89-94
- ↑ a b Konstantin A. Shiryaev, Nikolai L. Orlov, Sergei A. Ryabov and Nguyen Quang Truong: Captive breeding and reproductive biology of the Protobothrops cornutus and Triceratolepidophis sieversorum. Russian Journal of Herpetology 14, 2007, pp. 57-64
- ↑ a b Thomas Ziegler: Research into biodiversity in the Vietnam project of the Cologne Zoo: The amphibians and reptiles by Phong Nha-Ke Bang. Journal of the Cologne Zoo, issue 4, 2004, pp. 147–171
- ↑ Dietrich Mebs, Ulrich Kuch, Hans-Werner Herrmann and Thomas Ziegler: Biochemical and biological activities of the venom of a new species of pitphia from Vietnam, Triceratolepidophis sieversorum. Toxicon 41, 2003, pp. 139-143
- ↑ Thomas Ziegler, Hans-Werner Herrmann, P. David, Nikolai L. Orlov, and OSG Pauwels: Triceratolepidophis sieversorum, a new genus and species of pitphia (Reptilia: Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae) from Vietnam. Russian Journal of Herpetology 7, 2000, pp. 199-214.
- ↑ Thomas Ziegler and Hans-Werner Herrmann: Rediscovery of two horned pit viper species in Vietnam. ZGAP-Mitteilungen 18, 2002, pp. 24–26
- ↑ Peng Guo, Anita Malhotra, Pi P. Li, Catharine E. Pook and Simon Creer: New evidence on the phylogenetic position of the poorly known Asian pitocket Protobothrops kaulbacki (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae) with a redescription of the species and a revision of the genus Protobothrops. Herpetological Journal 17, 2007, pp. 237-246
- ↑ Wolfgang Wuster, Lindsay Peppin, Catharine E. Pook and Daniel E. Walker: A nesting of vipers: Phylogeny and historical biogeography of the Viperidae (Squamata: Serpentes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 49, 2008, pp. 445-459
- ↑ Anita Malhotra, Simon Creer, Catharine E. Pook and Roger S. Thorpe: Inclusion of nuclear intron sequence data helps to identify the Asian sister group of New World pitvipers. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54, 2010, pp. 172-178
- ^ Gunther Nogge: Annual report 2001 of the stock corporation Zoologischer Garten Cologne. Journal of the Cologne Zoo, Issue 1, 2002, pp. 3–28
- ^ RH Bain and BL Stuart: Protobothrops sieversorum. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 3.1, accessed December 28, 2017 ( [1] )