Viperidae

Belongs within: Caenophidia.
Contains: Bothrops, Crotalus.

The Viperidae, vipers, are a family of venomous snakes with a characteristic fang arrangement: the maxilla is reduced, with the fangs the only teeth present. The maxilla rotates to either hold the fangs erect (when striking) or flat against the roof of the mouth (when at rest). The venom contains a high concentration of proteases that partially break down the tissue of prey prior to consumption.

Characters (from Bailon et al. 2002): Trunk vertebrae with hypapophysis, neural arch depressed, centrum convex ventrally with poorly marked subcentral margins, prezygapophyseal facets inclined on horizontal, parapophyseal processes present.

<==Viperidae
    |--+--Bothriechis schlegeliiVH02
    |  `--Azemiops [Azemiopinae]VH02
    |       `--A. feaeVH02
    `--+--CerastesVH02
       |    |--C. cerastesVH02
       |    `--C. gasperettiiA-O00
       `--+--Atheris squamigeraVH02
          `--CaususVH02
               |--C. lichtensteiniiT67
               |--C. resimusVH02
               `--C. rhombeatusVH02
Viperidae incertae sedis:
  Vipera Laurenti 1768 [Viperinae]BG-PQ-C02
    |--V. ammodytesBG-PQ-C02
    |--V. antiqua Szyndlar 1987RB05
    |--V. aspis (Linnaeus 1758)RB05
    |--V. berus (Linnaeus 1758)BG-PQ-C02, L58 [=Coluber berusK08, Pelias berusK08]
    |    |--V. b. berusK08
    |    `--V. b. bosniensisK08
    |--V. communisG42
    |--V. latastei Boscá 1878RB05
    |--V. lebetinaBG-PQ-C02
    |    |--V. l. lebetinaM55
    |    `--V. l. schweizeri Werner 1935 [incl. V. lebetina siphnensis Wettstein 1953]M55
    |--V. meotica Zerova in Szyndlar & Zerova 1992RB05
    |--V. natiensis Bailon, Garcia-Porta & Quintana-Cardona 2002BG-PQ-C02
    |--V. nikolskiH05
    |--V. palaestinaeWA05
    `--V. ursiniiK08
         |--V. u. ursiniiK08
         `--V. u. rakosiensis Méhely 1893K08
  Provipera boettgeri Kinkelin 1892 (n. d.)BG-PQ-C02
  Daboia Gray 1842BG-PQ-C02
    |--D. maxima (Szyndlar 1988)RB05
    `--D. russeliiRB05
  BothropsKS93
  Lachesis Daudin 1803DS86, BR05
    `--L. mutaDS86
  CrotalusR88
  CalloselasmaKS93
  DeinagkistrodonKS93
  TrimeresurusKS93
    |--T. albolabrisS72
    |--T. jerdoniiL50
    `--T. stejnegeriSBM11
  SistrurusKS93
    |--S. catenatusKS93
    |    |--S. c. catenatusKS93
    |    `--S. c. edwardsiKS93
    |--S. miliariusKS93
    |    |--S. m. miliariusKS93
    |    `--S. m. barbouriKS93
    `--S. ravusKS93
  AgkistrodonKS93
    |--A. bilineatusKS93
    |    |--A. b. bilineatusKS93
    |    `--A. b. russeolusKS93
    |--A. blomhoffiiM01
    |--A. contortrixW-CL06
    |    |--A. c. contortrixBS00
    |    |--A. c. laticinctusBS00
    |    `--A. c. mokesonR56
    |--A. halysM01
    |--A. intermedius (Strauch 1868) [=Trigonocephalus intermedius, Halys intermedia]M01
    `--A. piscivorusMH11
  EchisB03
    |--E. carinatusB03
    `--E. coloratus Günther 1878 [=E. colorata; incl. E. froenatus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril 1854 (nom. rej.)]B03
         |--E. c. coloratusB03
         `--E. c. terraesanctae Babocsay 2003B03

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[A-O00] Al-Oran, R. M. 2000. Notable herpetological records from central and southern Jordan. Zoology in the Middle East 21: 31–36.

[B03] Babocsay, G. 2003. Geographic variation in Echis coloratus (Viperidae, Ophidia) in the Levant with the description of a new subspecies. Zoology in the Middle East 29: 13–32.

[BG-PQ-C02] Bailon, S., J. Garcia-Porta & J. Quintana-Cardona. 2002. Première découverte de Viperidae (Reptilia, Serpentes) dans les îles Baléares (Espagne): des vipères du Néogène de Minorque. Description d’une nouvelle espèce du Pliocène. Comptes Rendus Palevol 1: 227–234.

[BS00] Borges, M. H., A. M. Soares, V. M. Rodrigues, S. H. Andrião-Escarso, H. Diniz, A. Hamaguchi, A. Quintero, S. Lizano, J. M. Gutiérrez, J. R. Giglio & M. I. Homsi-Brandeburgo. 2000. Effects of aqueous extract of Casearia sylvestris (Flacourtiaceae) on actions of snake and bee venoms and on activity of phospholipases A₂. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 127B: 21–30.

[BR05] Bouchet, P., & J.-P. Rocroi. 2005. Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. Malacologia 47 (1–2): 1–397.

[DS86] Dixon, J. R., & P. Soini. 1986. The Reptiles of the Upper Amazon Basin, Iquitos Region, Peru. Milwaukee Public Museum: Milwaukee.

[G42] Gulliver, G. 1842. Observations on the muscular fibres of the oesophagus and heart in some of the vertebrate animals. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 10: 63–72.

[H05] Höser, N. 2005. Schriftenschau: Ökologisches Journal des Wolgagebietes. Herausgeber: Russische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Saratover Filiale des A. N.-Severtsov-Instituts für Probleme der Ökologie und Evolution. Mauritiana 19 (2): 316.

[KS93] Knight, A., D. Styer, S. Pelikan, J. A. Campbell, L. D. Densmore, III & D. P. Mindell. 1993. Choosing among hypotheses of rattlesnake phylogeny: a best-fit rate test for DNA sequence data. Systematic Biology 42 (3): 356–367.

[K08] Korsós, Z. 2008. History of the Herpetological Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 100: 37–93.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[L50] Liu, C.-C. 1950. Amphibians of western China. Fieldiana: Zoology Memoirs 2: 1–400.

[M01] Méhely, L. 1901. Csúszómászók és kétéltűek [Reptilien und Amphibien]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 41–68. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[M55] Mertens, R. 1955. Der Typus von Vipera lebetina schweizeri. Senckenbergiana Biologica 36: 297–299.

[MH11] Müller, J., C. A. Hipsley, J. J. Head, N. Kardjilov, A. Hilger, M. Wuttke & R. R. Reisz. 2011. Eocene lizard from Germany reveals amphisbaenian origins. Nature 473: 364–367.

[RB05] Rage, J.-C., & S. Bailon. 2005. Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the late early Miocene (MN 4) of Béon 1 (Montréal-du-Gers, southwestern France). Geodiversitas 27 (3): 413–441.

[R56] Reed, C. F. 1956. The herpetofauna of Harford County, Maryland. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 46 (2): 58–60.

[R88] Rieppel, O. 1988. The classification of the Squamata. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods vol. 1. Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds pp. 261–293. Clarendon Press: Oxford.

[S72] Soderberg, P. S. 1972. Cannibalism and feeding in two snakes, Trimeresurus albolabris and Ahaetulla nasutus. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 69 (1): 192–193.

[SBM11] Solomon, E. P., L. R. Berg & D. W. Martin (eds) 2011. Biology 9^th ed. Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

[T67] Taufflieb, R. 1967. Un nouveau Laelapidae d’Afrique centrale: Scutanolaelaps mehelyae n. sp. Acarologia 9 (1): 21–25.

[VH02] Vidal, N., & S. B. Hedges. 2002. Higher-level relationships of caenophidian snakes inferred from four nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Comptes Rendus Biologies 325: 987–995.

[WA05] Wasserberg, G., Z. Abramsky, N. Valdivia & B. P. Kotler. 2005. The role of vegetation characteristics and foraging substrate in organizing a centrifugal gerbil community. Journal of Mammalogy 86 (5): 1009–1014.

[W-CL06] Watkins-Colwell, G. J., T. A. Leenders, B. T. Roach, D. J. Drew, G. Dancho & J. Yuckienuz. 2006. New distribution records for amphibians and reptiles in Connecticut, with notes on the status of an introduced species. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 47 (1–2): 47–62.