Montivipera albicornuta
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Montivipera albicornuta ( Syn .: Vipera albicornuta ) is a medium-sized venomous snake from the family of vipers (Viperidae) of Eurasia .
description
Montivipera albicornuta becomes a maximum of 66 cm long. It has a narrow head, but clearly separated from the body, and vertically slit pupils .
Scaling
The shields on the top of the head are divided into 39 to 40 small keeled scales . The upper eye shields are large, raised, and separated from the eyes by a series of very small scales. The under-eye shields are divided into 24 to 28 individual scales, the eyes are surrounded by an inner ring of 13 to 15 and a non-closed second ring of 15 to 17 scales. The eyes are separated from the nine upper lip shields (supralabials) by one or two rows of lower eye shields and from the supranasals by two canthales.
The nostrils lie in a single nasal shield, which is partially fused with the prenasals and adjoins two rostral shields. The lower edge of the lip is formed by eleven to twelve sublabials. In addition, there are two large anterior and four posterior chin shields and two to three preventrals below the head.
The body and head scales are keeled. On the back there are usually 23 rows of scales around the middle of the body. On the abdominal side there are 165 to 171 abdominal shields (ventralia) and, following an undivided anal shield, 35 to 38 paired under tail shields (subcaudalia).
coloring
The basic color of the snake is gray with a brownish zigzag band of 44 to 52 turns and a black border. There are also a number of dark spots on both sides of the back.
A dark temple band runs from the eye to the corner of the mouth. Another dark band extends from the lower edge of the eyes to the mouth. The snake has teardrop-shaped dark spots on the back of its head. The throat is light with dark mottling. The belly is dark with light shades.
distribution and habitat
The range of the snake is limited to the highlands of Zanjan and the surrounding mountain regions of the Elburs , Talysh and Zanjar Mountains in northwestern Iran . The type locality is the place Abhar in the Zandschan valley between Tabriz and Tehran .
Like all other species of the Montivipera complex, this snake lives in the dry highlands with little vegetation and stony and sandy subsoil. The vegetation consists mainly of grasses and bushes.
Way of life
Little concrete information is available about the snake's way of life. According to Mallow et al. In 2003, there are great similarities with the Armenian mountain otter ( Montivipera raddei ). Like other vipers, it feeds primarily on small mammals and lizards such as Darevskia raddei ; the young animals also from insects (especially grasshoppers).
She is also viviparous .
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:
- Montivipera albicornuta
- M. albizona
- Lebanese mountain otter ( M. bornmuelleri )
- Taurian mountain otter ( M. bulgardaghica )
- Alborz Mountain Otter ( M. latifii )
- Armenian mountain otter ( M. raddei )
- Wagner's mountain otter ( M. wagneri )
- Asian mountain otter ( M. xanthina )
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.
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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
Knowledge of the venom of Montivipera albicornuta is relatively limited. In previous investigations in Iran, all mountain otters such as the Armenian mountain otter, the Elbour's mountain otter and also Montivipera albicorna were generally considered to be Asia Minor mountain otters ( V. xanthina ). Correspondingly, no adjusted data are available on the epidemiology of this species.
Amount of poison
Based on data from the Razi Serum Institute in Tehran, information on the amount of poison in the snake is available. According to this, the average amount of poison is 7 to 18 mg dry weight per snake. This amount is largely independent of the season, but it decreases slightly in autumn compared to spring and summer. In females, the amount of poison is on average 5 mg / tooth, in males between 7 and 8 mg / tooth.
Composition and effect
Like most viper venom, the venom of Montivipera albicornuta is primarily hemotoxic , i.e. it destroys cells of the blood and the tissues surrounding them with various proteases . Hemotoxins lead to tissue destruction, internal bleeding and swelling as well as necrosis and are very painful. The most effective components of the poison include proteins that suppress blood clotting and thus together with the tissue-destroying components cause internal bleeding. There are also neurotoxins , which can have a paralyzing effect on the nervous system; However, due to the low levels of neurotoxin in humans, corresponding effects are very rare.
The effect of the poison largely corresponds to that of other European vipers. The bite results in swelling with necrosis and increased bleeding at the site of the bite. In addition, the person concerned usually has hypotension and other shock symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and often diarrhea. In rare cases, unconsciousness or impaired consciousness occurs; fatal bite accidents are unknown with this type of snake.
There are a number of polyvalent antivenins available for treatment , which act unspecifically in most Vipera species in Europe and the Middle East. However, these are only used on the advice of a doctor if the symptoms are more severe.
Web links
- Montivipera raddei in The Reptile Database
- Montivipera albicornuta inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Göran Nilson, 2009. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
supporting documents
- ^ G. Nilson, C. Andrés: Systematics of the Vipera xanthina complex (Reptilia: Viperidae). I. A new Iranian viper in the raddei species group. Amphibia-Reptilia 6 (2), 1985; Pp. 207-214.
- ^ A b 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
- ↑ All information from Mallows et al. 2003
- ↑ Montivipera in The Reptile Database ; Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ↑ Lenk, P., S. Kalayabina, M. Wink & U. Joger: Evolutionary relationships among the true vipers (Reptilia: Viperidae) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 19; 2001: 94-104. ( Full text PDF )
- ↑ Thomas Garrigues, Catherine Dauga, Elisabeth Ferquel, Valérie Choumet and Anna-Bella Failloux: Molecular phylogeny of Vipera Laurenti, 1768 and the related genera Macroypena (Reuss, 1927) and Daboia (Gray, 1842), with comments about neurotoxic Vipera aspis aspis populations. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35 (1), 2005; Pp. 35-47.
- ↑ Nikolaus Sümple, Ulrich Joger: Recent advances in phylogeny and taxonomy of Near and Middle Eastern Vipers - an update. ZooKeys 31 (2009), Special Issue. ( PDF download ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ).
literature
- David Mallow, David Ludwig, Göran Nilson: True Vipers. Natural History and Toxicology of Old World Vipers, Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar (Florida) 2003; Pages 282-283. ISBN 0-89464-877-2