Wagler's lance viper
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Wagler's lance viper ( Tropidolaemus wagleri ) |
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| Tropidolaemus wagleri | ||||||||||||
| ( Boie , 1827) |
Tropidolaemus wagleri ( Tropidolaemus wagleri ), also temple Otter or Tropidolaemus bamboo Otter called, is a pit viper (Crotalinae) and counts within the family of vipers (Viperidae) to the genus Tropidolaemus . The species was first scientifically described in 1827 by the German natural scientist Friedrich Boie . In English it is known as Wagler's Pit Viper .
Waglers Lanzenotter is named after the German herpetologist and zoologist Johann Georg Wagler .
features
Females of the Waglers lance viper reach a body length of over one meter, up to a maximum of 1.3 meters. They are strongly built and appear quite slim. Males of this species are significantly smaller and somewhat slimmer than the females with a maximum of almost 0.8 meters. The color of the body depends on the age of the animals. While young animals are speckled green, white and reddish brown and have a brown band running over the eye, adult, i.e. fully grown, females are black in their basic color, the black turns into a green tone on the flanks and the entire body is with one variable pattern drawn from spots, bars and ribbons. Males are mostly less variable in color, often green with reddish horizontal stripes. Even brilliant green to turquoise colored individuals are known from certain regions. The ventral scales are yellow in most specimens. In general, Wagler's lance viper range of colors and patterns is one of the broadest among snakes. The heart-shaped and massive head of the viper is strongly separated from the rest of the body, it appears extremely angular in adult animals and is slightly raised at the tip of the snout. A black band usually extends over the high-lying, greenish eyes, which have a vertically slit pupil; it extends from the tip of the snout to the jaw joint.
Occurrence
In Southeast Asia , Wagler's lance viper is widespread in large parts of Indonesia , the Philippines , Singapore , southern Vietnam , Thailand and western Malaysia . The habitats she inhabits include all sorts of humid areas near water, primarily tropical lowland forests , mangroves and swamp areas, as well as plantations and, in some cases, the forests of the plateaus. In the snake temple of Penang the vipers are met and tolerated in large numbers.
Way of life
Wagler's lance viper is a snake that becomes active at dusk and at night . During the day, the animal lies almost immobile on branches above water, and often does not move from its resting place for days. In contrast to several related species, Wagler's lance viper is an extremely docile species that bites almost only when it is in great distress and appears to be anything but aggressive. However, their bite, like that of all other lance vipers, is lightning fast, the name “lance viper” is derived from the rapid advance of the front body when attacking - like a lance. In the Buddhist snake temple in Penang, tourists take the viper in their arms and have themselves photographed with it, bites have probably not been known from there.
Wagler's lance viper is ovoviviparous , which means that the female forms eggs with thin shells after copulation , but the juvenile snakes hatch from the eggs in the womb and are born alive. A litter can contain between 15 and 41 young snakes. The juvenile lanceolers are much more agile than the adults. They even occasionally hunt on the ground in tall grass.
The calm species, which besides Wagler's lance otters only a few other Southeast Asian pit otters exhibit, makes them a popular exotic species for terraristics . However, it is a bad eater in captivity; Not least because of this, their keeping should only be reserved for experienced experts and zoological gardens .
nutrition
Wagler's lance viper prey range includes many species of lizards , frogs , birds and small mammals, for example from the rodent group . In the snake temple, the viper obviously also eats chicken eggs. The prey is perceived with the pit organ as an infrared image, its smell is perceived via the Jakobsonian organ in the palate, stunned with a poison bite and swallowed whole, as is typical of a snake.
Snake venom
As a pit viper and a viper, Wagler's lance viper is one of the venomous snakes; it has retractable tubular poison teeth through which the poison is injected. Their poison acts primarily as a coagulative toxin, so it damages the blood coagulation mechanisms and can lead to thrombosis and embolism . There is also a cytotoxic effect, i.e. it also causes tissue (especially muscle tissue) to die. As a result of the muscle damage, damage to the kidneys through clogging of the capillaries with dead muscle cells cannot be ruled out. In general, however, not much is known about the effects of Wagler's lance viper venom on humans, as hardly any bites have been recorded or scientifically recognized. Although a bite of this kind is considered less dangerous and hardly fatal for adults, it would still have to be treated medically.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Amphibians and reptiles - species, habitats, behavior. Naumann & Göbel Verlagsgesellschaft, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-625-21133-5 .
literature
- Mark O'Shea: Venomous snakes . All species in the world in their habitats. Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-10619-5 .
Web links
- Tropidolaemus wagleri in The Reptile Database
- Tropidolaemus wagleri inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Grismer, L. & Chan-Ard, T., 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2014.