Gloydius intermedius

Gloydius intermedius, or Central Asian pit viper, is a venomous species of pitviper endemic to northern Asia. Three subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.

Gloydius intermedius
In Gobi Desert, Mongolia
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Genus:	Gloydius
Species:	G. intermedius
Binomial name
Gloydius intermedius (Strauch, 1868)
Synonyms
List Trigonocephalus halys – Ménétries, 1832 (part) Trigonocephalus blomhoffii – Maack, 1859 (part) Trigonocephalus affinis – Günther, 1860 (part) Trigonocephalus intermedius Strauch, 1868 Halys intermedius – W. Peters, 1877 Ancistrodon intermedius – Boulenger, 1896 Agkistrodon blomhoffii intermedius – Stejneger, 1907 Ancistrodon blomhoffii intermedius – Despax, 1913 Ancistrodon halys intermedius – Nikolski, 1916 Agkistrodon halys intermedius – Stejneger, 1925 Ankistrodon halys intermedius – Pavloff, 1926 Agkistrodon intermedius – F. Werner, 1929 Ancistrodon halys intermedius viridis – Pavloff, 1932 (nomen illegitimum) Gloydius halys intermedius – Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981 Agkistrodon intermedius intermedius – Gloyd & Conant, 1982 Gloydius intermedius – Kraus, Mink & W.M. Brown, 1996

Description

Gloyd and Conant (1990) reported examining subadults and adults of G. intermedius that were 33.5–71 cm (13.2–28.0 in) in total length. Nikolsky (1916) mentioned that some individuals may reach as much as 78 cm (30.5 in) in total length. The body is relatively stout, and the snout is not upturned.

The scalation includes 7 supralabial scales, 23 rows of keeled dorsal scales at midbody, 149-165 ventral scales, and 32-48 subcaudal scales.

The color pattern is variable, but generally consists of 28-45 dark subquadrate dorsal blotches or crossbands that usually extend down the flanks as far as the first or second scale rows. Between these blotches are irregular light areas. A dark brown to black postorbital stripe is present, extending from the eye back to the angle of the jaw, outlined by a light line above, and by cream-colored supralabial scales below.

Common names

Common names for G. intermedius include Central Asian pit viper, intermediate mamushi, Mongolian pit viper, Central Asian pitviper.

Geographic range

G. intermedius is found in southeastern Azerbaijan, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, northwestern Afghanistan, southern Russia, Korea, northwestern China and Mongolia. The type locality given by Stejneger (1907) is "Governm. Irkutsk, East Siberia." Golay et al. (1993) give "Yesso (= Esso) Island, banks of Amur River and Khinggan (= Hinggan Ling) Mountain Range."

Subspecies

Subspecies	Taxon author	Common name	Geographic range
G. i. caucasicus	(Nikolsky, 1916)	Caucasian pit viper	Mostly in the mountainous regions southwest, south and southeast of the Caspian Sea. Also in southeastern Azerbaijan, southern Turkmenistan, northern Iran and extreme northwestern Afghanistan. Elevational range is from below sea level (near the southern shore of the Caspian Sea) to at least 3,000 m in the high Lar Valley in the Elburz mountains of northern Iran.
G. i. intermedius	(Strauch, 1868)	Central Asian pit viper	Central Asia from Kyrgyzstan, eastern Kazakhstan and Xinjiang (in China) to Mongolia and southern Siberia east to the western slopes of the Greater Khingan Mountain Range and the Torey Lakes region near the common border of China, Mongolia and Russia.
G. i. stejnegeri	(Rendahl, 1933)	Gobi pit viper	The edge of the Gobi Desert in southeastern Inner Mongolia south into China as far as northern Shanxi and Hebei.

Etymology

The subspecific name, stejnegeri, is in honor of Norwegian-born American herpetologist Leonhard Stejneger.

External links

• Gloydius intermedius at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 8 August 2008.