Palestinian viper
| Palestinian viper | ||||||||||||
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Palestine aviper ( Daboia palaestinae ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Daboia palaestinae | ||||||||||||
| Werner , 1938 |
The Palestine aviper ( Daboia palaestinae , Syn .: Vipera palaestinae ) is a small to medium-sized venomous snake from the family of vipers (Viperidae), which is native to Palestine and Israel via Lebanon to Syria .
features
The Palestinian aviper reaches a length of up to 130 cm and is therefore a relatively large species of its genus. The physique is also very strong. The basic color is gray, ocher, yellowish or light gray with a conspicuous drawing on the back of dark brown oval spots with a light center, which can merge into a zigzag band. The sides of the body have other dark spots. On the head there is a V-drawing up to the neck starting from a spot behind the tip of the snout, in addition the snake has a dark temple band over the eyes to the corners of the mouth. A third band runs straight down from the nasal shield. The ventral side is gray and often speckled dark.
The head is triangular and clearly separated from the rest of the body. The eyes have vertical pupils . On the top of the head, the head shields are completely broken up into small individual scales. The nostril lies in a depression in the nasal shield. Below the eyes are two rows of under-eye shields ( supraocularia ). The body scales are keeled. There are usually 24 to 25 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
The Palestinian aviper is native to the Gaza Strip and Israel via Lebanon to Syria . Loose oak forests, which have become rare in the area of distribution, served as the original habitat. Today it lives mainly on bushy slopes and is also found in settlements, gardens and agricultural areas.
Way of life
The Palestinian aviper is predominantly nocturnal and lives mainly on the ground, but also moves into low bushes. It feeds on small mammals such as mice, rats and hamsters, which it kills with a poison bite.
The snake is likely to lay eggs ( oviparous ) and lay clutches of up to 20 eggs. After about 8 days, the young snakes hatch.
Taxonomy
→ Main article: Oriental vipers # systematics
The Palestine aviper was scientifically described by Franz Werner in 1938 as Vipera palestinae after its place of discovery. As a result, it was classified as a subspecies of the Asian Minor Mountain Otter ( V. xanthina ) in 1952 and classified as Daboia palaestinae in the genus Daboia in 1983 by fruit . In 1992 there was a revision of the genus Vipera , in which the chain viper was confirmed as the only species of the genus Daboia on the basis of biochemical characteristics , and the genus of large vipers ( Macroypena ) was also formed.
By Lenk et al. In 2001, however, this compilation was questioned. On a molecular biological basis, the assignment of the African Macroocket and the Palestine Aviper to the genus Daboia was proposed. This view is confirmed by Garrigues et al. 2004: As with Lenk et al. In 2001 the genus of large vipers is paraphyletic in the current compilation, the chain viper ( Daboia russeli ) forms a taxon with the Palestine viper and the former African large viper species and was accordingly identified by Mallow et al. 2003 run as Daboia .
Snake venom
Like most viper poisons, the poison of the Palestinian viper is primarily hemotoxic , i.e. it primarily destroys cells of the blood and the tissues surrounding them with various proteases . Hemotoxins lead to extensive tissue destruction, internal bleeding and swelling as well as necrosis and are very painful. Similar to the poison of the chain viper , however, that of the Palestinian viper is also very potent and has proteins that suppress blood coagulation and thus together with the tissue-destroying components cause internal bleeding. Bleeding occurs under the skin, in the nasal and oral cavities and, above all, in the victim's intestines and brain. The bite of the Palestinian viper can be fatal and requires immediate administration of antiserum .
Danger
The Palestinian aviper is listed in the IUCN Red List as not endangered (“least concern”) due to its large distribution area.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
Most of the information in this article has been taken from the sources given under literature; the following sources are also cited:
- ↑ Herrmann, H.-W., U. Joger & G. Nilson (1992): Phylogeny and systematics of viperine snakes. III: resurrection of the genus Macroektivena (Reuss, 1927) as suggested by biochemical evidence. Amphibia-Reptilia, 13: 375-392
- ↑ Lenk, P., S. Kalayabina, M. Wink & U. Joger (2001) Evolutionary relationships among the true vipers (Reptilia: Viperidae) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 19: 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.
- ↑ Daboia mauritanica in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009.2. Posted by: Souad Hraoui-Bloquet, Riyad Sadek, Yehudah Werner, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
literature
- David Mallow, David Ludwig, Göran Nilson: True Vipers. Natural History and Toxicology of Old World Vipers. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar (Florida) 2003; Pp. 141-150, ISBN 0-89464-877-2
- Ulrich Gruber: The snakes in Europe and around the Mediterranean . Franck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-440-05753-4
