Lebanese mountain otter

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Lebanese mountain otter
Vipera bornmuelleri.JPG

Lebanese mountain otter ( Montivipera bornmuelleri )

Systematics
Subordination : Snakes (serpentes)
Superfamily : Adder-like and viper-like (Colubroidea)
Family : Vipers (Viperidae)
Subfamily : Real vipers (Viperinae)
Genre : Mountain otters ( Montivipera )
Type : Lebanese mountain otter
Scientific name
Montivipera bornmuelleri
( Werner , 1898)

The Lebanese mountain otter ( Montivipera bornmuelleri , Syn .: Vipera bornmuelleri ) is a type of mountain otter ( Montivipera ) within the vipers (Viperidae). Their distribution is limited to Lebanon and the border area with Syria on the Hermon in the Golan Heights .

features

The Lebanese mountain otter reaches an average length of around 50 cm and a maximum length of up to 75 cm on the Hermon . The basic color ranges from gray to gray-brown to a darker shade of brown. As a young animal, the snake has a back drawing made of a dark zigzag band and resembles the Asian Minor Mountain Otter ( V. xanthina ). Later, the central areas of the zigzag pattern lighten up and what remains is an irregular bar mark with crossbars and spots. The animals also have widely spaced dark spots on the sides of their bodies. The back of the head has two crescent-shaped spots that can also be individually turned into a V-mark. A temple band runs from the temple over the eyes to the corner of the mouth.

The head is clearly separated from the neck. The eyes are small and have a vertical pupil . The top of the head is covered with 42 to 58 small individual scales, with 6 to 9 scales at the narrowest point between the super-ocular shields ( supraocularia ) that protrude clearly from the eye rim . Below the eyes there are two rows of under eye shields ( supraocularia ), underneath there are 9 upper lip shields ( supralabials ). The body scales are keeled. There are usually 23, less often 21 rows of scales around the middle of the body. The under- tail shields ( Subcaudalia ) are divided as in all species of the genus.

distribution and habitat

Distribution area

The Lebanese mountain otter can only be found in the higher mountain regions of Lebanon and on the Hermon in the Lebanese-Syrian border area. As a habitat, the animals prefer mountain slopes rich in vegetation and characterized by rubble at altitudes of 1600 to 2000 m above sea ​​level . They are particularly common in the region's cedar forests , where they probably need a certain level of humidity .

Way of life

Very little is known about the way of life of the Lebanese mountain otters. It is relatively sluggish, but can bite very quickly when threatened. It emits a clear hissing sound as a warning. It feeds mainly on small mammals such as mice and rats. It is viviparous ( oviviviparous ) and gives birth to 5 to 18 young snakes, and only two for first-borns.

Systematics

The taxonomic classification of the species is currently under discussion, therefore two alternative generic names can be found in the literature. Traditionally, the mountain otter was assigned to the genus Vipera and formed within this a species complex with a number of other species, which is known as the Vipera xanthina complex. All species within this complex share anatomical features with the mountain otter and live scattered across Asia Minor in higher altitudes of relatively isolated mountain landscapes.

Including the mountain otter, the genus Montivipera now includes the following species:

Up until a few years ago, some of these species were considered to be subspecies of the Asian mountain otter, although the species status of V. bulgardaghica or V. albicornuta, for example, is still controversial today.

In 1999, it was proposed that this complex be relocated from the genus Vipera under the new genus name Montivipera , although this was only able to establish itself to a limited extent in the literature. In 2005 Joger and Nilson led the mountain otters under the species name Montivipera xanthina and the database The Reptile Database established the genus Montivipera as a separate genus and separated it from Vipera . Mallow et al. 2003 leads this and the other species, however, still under the established names within the genus Vipera and assign them to the subgenus Montivipera .

By Lenk et al. In 2001 the monophyly of the Montivipera species was confirmed as a separate taxon via immunological studies. According to the results, however, these represent the sister group of two great viper species ( Macrophia ) within a complex of Daboia , Macroocket and the Montivipera species, whereby the genus Vipera with the inclusion of the subgenus Montivipera is no longer a natural relatives group with all descendants of a parent species (monophyletic Group) is durable and to be regarded as paraphyletic.



 Other genera


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 Real otters ( Vipera )


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 Montivipera


   

 Macroilota



   

 Daboia






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This view is confirmed by Garrigues et al. 2004, in which the vipers form a European section from different Vipera species as well as an oriental section from the named genera Daboia and Macroypena and the Montivipera species. Today all species of the xanthina complex of the genus Montivipera are added accordingly .

Snake venom

The venom of the Lebanese mountain otter is highly haemotoxic ; medical treatment with an adequate antivenin is necessary.

supporting documents

  1. ^ G. Nilson, C. Andrés: The mountain vipers of the middle east - The Vipera xanthina complex (Reptilia, Viperidae). (= Bonn Zoological Monographs. No. 20). Bonn 1986, ISBN 3-925382-20-8 .
  2. ↑ All information from Mallows et al. 2003.
  3. ↑ Montivipera in The Reptile Database ; Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  4. ↑ P. Lenk, S. Kalayabina, M. Wink, U. Joger: Evolutionary relationships among the true vipers (Reptilia: Viperidae) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 19, 2001, pp. 94-104. ( Full text PDF )
  5. ↑ Thomas Garrigues, Catherine Dauga, Elisabeth Ferquel, Valérie Choumet, Anna-Bella Failloux: Molecular phylogeny of Vipera Laurenti, 1768 and the related genera Macrophia (Reuss, 1927) and Daboia (Gray, 1842), with comments about neurotoxic Vipera aspis aspis populations. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 35 (1), 2005, pp. 35-47.
  6. ↑ Nikolaus Sümple, Ulrich Joger: Recent advances in phylogeny and taxonomy of Near and Middle Eastern Vipers - an update. In: ZooKeys. 31, Special Issue, 2009. ( PDF download ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pensoftonline.net

literature

  • David Mallow, David Ludwig, Göran Nilson: True Vipers. Natural History and Toxicology of Old World Vipers. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar (Florida) 2003, ISBN 0-89464-877-2 , pp. 283-285.
  • Ulrich Gruber: The snakes of Europe. Franckh'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-440-05753-4 , pp. 197-198.

Web links