Trimeresurus mcgregori

Trimeresurus mcgregori, commonly known as McGregor's pit viper[4] or the Batanes pit viper, is a species of venomous snake in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae.[5][4] The species is endemic to the Philippines.

Trimeresurus mcgregori
Captive-bred adult female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Genus: Trimeresurus
Species:
T. mcgregori
Binomial name
Trimeresurus mcgregori
Taylor, 1919
Synonyms
  • Trimeresurus mcgregori
    Taylor, 1919
  • Trimeresurus flavomaculatus mcgregori
    Leviton, 1961[2]
  • Trimeresurus mcgregori
    Gumprecht, 2001
  • Parias flavomaculatus mcgregori
    Malhotra & Thorpe, 2004
  • Trimeresurus mcgregori
    Mattison, 2007
  • Parias mcgregori
    Orlov et al., 2009
  • Trimeresurus (Parias) mcgregori
    David et al., 2011[3]

Etymology

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The specific name, mcgregori, is in honor of Australian-American ornithologist Richard Crittenden McGregor (1871–1936), who collected the type specimen,[6] and survived its bite.[7]

Description

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The scalation of T. mcgregori includes 21 (23) rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 170-172/173-178 (or 169-172/168-178) ventral scales in males/females, 62-66/58-60 (or 63-69/56-62) subcaudal scales in males/females, and 10–11 supralabial scales.[4]

Geographic range

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T. mcgregori is found in the Philippines on the Batanes Islands. The type locality given is "Batan Island, Batanes Group, (lying between Luzon and Formosa)" (Philippine Islands).[2]

Habitat

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The preferred natural habitats of T. mcgregori are forest and shrubland, at altitudes from sea level to 800 m (2,600 ft), but it has also been found in agricultural areas.[1]

Taxonomy

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T. mcgregori was originally described as a new species by E.H. Taylor in 1919.[8] It was considered to be a subspecies of T. flavomaculatus by Alan E. Leviton (1961).[2] It was re-elevated to a full species by Andreas Gumprecht (2001, 2002).[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Sy E, Diemos AC, Brown R, Siler C (2022). "Trimeresurus mcgregori ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/169876/195201742
  2. ^ a b c McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  3. ^ "Trimeresurus mcgregori ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  4. ^ a b c d Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S (2004). Asian Pitvipers. First Edition. Berlin: GeitjeBooks. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4
  5. ^ "Trimeresurus flavomaculatus mcgregori". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  6. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Trimeresurus mcgregori, p. 173).
  7. ^ Taylor (1919), p. 112.
  8. ^ Taylor (1919), p. 110.
 
Breeding female on eggs with hatchlings

Further reading

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  • Gumprecht A (2002). "Die Bambusottern der Gattung Trimeresurus Lacépède Tiel V: Die philippinischen Bambusottern des Trimeresurus flavomaculatus-Komplexes II. Die Batanes-Bambusotter Trimeresurus mcgregori Taylor, 1919 ". Sauria 24 (3): 31–44. (in German).
  • Sweeney, Roger (1994). "McGregor's pit viper, Trimeresurus flavomaculatus mcgregori ". Herptile: Journal of the International Herpetological Society 19 (2): 86–88.
  • Taylor EH (1919). "New or rare Philippine reptiles". Philippine Journal of Science 14: 105–125. (Trimeresurus mcgregori, new species, pp. 110–112.)
  • Weinell JL, Hooper E, Leviton AE, Brown RM (2019). "Illustrated Key to the Snakes of the Philippines". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series 66 (1): 1–49.
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