Protobothrops elegans

Protobothrops elegans is a pit viper species endemic to Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands.^[1][3] No subspecies are currently recognized.^[3][4] Common names include: elegant pit viper,^[1][3][4][5] Sakishima habu (サキシマハブ),^[6] and elegant tree viper.^[7]

Protobothrops elegans
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Genus:	Protobothrops
Species:	P. elegans
Binomial name
Protobothrops elegans (Gray, 1849)
Synonyms
Craspedocephalus elegans Gray, 1849 Trimeresurus luteus Boettger, 1895 Lachesis luteus – Boulenger, 1896 Lachesis lutea – Boettger, 1898 Trimeresurus elegans – Stejneger, 1907 Trimeresurus mucrosq[uamatus]. elegans – Mell, 1929 Protobothrops elegans – Kraus, Mink & Brown, 1996[2]

Description

Scalation includes 25 (sometimes 23) rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 179–192 (males) or 182–196 (females) ventral scales, 63–90 subcaudal scales, and 8 (sometimes 7 or 9) supralabial scales.^[5]

During 1965–2011, 2447 snakebites from this snake are reported with one fatality.^[8]

Geographic range

It is found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands, specifically in the Yaeyama Islands.^[1] The type locality is unknown. Boulenger listed it as "---- ?" while Gray's original 1849 description gives "West Coast of [North?] America." A restriction to "Ishigaki-Shima [Ryukyu Islands, Japan]" was proposed by Stejneger (1907).^[2]

See also

• Snakebite