''Garthius chaseni'',
commonly known as Chasen's mountain pit viper,
[ Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, ]Captain A
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, Ryabov S (2004). ''Asian Pitvipers''. First Edition. Berlin: GeitjeBooks. 368 pp. . Chasen's tree viper,
[Brown, John Haynes (1973). ''Toxicology and Pharmacology of Venoms from Poisonous Snakes''. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 184 pp. LCCCN 73-229. .] and the Kinabalu brown pit viper,
is a
species of
venomous pitviper
The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers,Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . crotaline snakes (from grc, κρόταλον ''krotalon'' castanet), or pit adders, are a subfa ...
in the
family Viperidae. The species is
endemic to the island of
Borneo in
Malaysia.
[ No ]subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
are currently recognized.
Etymology
The generic name, ''Garthius'', is in honor of British herpetologist Garth Underwood
Garth may refer to:
Places
*Garth, Alberta, Canada
*Garth, Bridgend, a village in south Wales
:* Garth railway station (Bridgend)
*Garth, Ceredigion, small village in Wales
*Garth, Powys, a village in mid Wales
:* Garth railway station (Powys)
*Ga ...
.[
The ]specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''chaseni'', is in honor of Frederick Nutter Chasen, who in 1931 was Curator of the Raffles Museum, Singapore.[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Garthius chaseni'', p. 52; Pit-viper genus ''Garthius'', p. 98).]
Description
''G. chaseni'' is heavy-bodied, and may attain SVL (snout–vent length
Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...
). Dorsally, it has a dark tan or reddish brown ground color, overlaid by dark brown crossbands, which are broken and alternating on the front part of the body, becoming regular on the posterior part. Ventrally, it is yellow and gray. It has two rows of small scales between the upper labials and the eye.[Das, Indraneil (2006). ''A Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Borneo''. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 144 pp. . (''Garthius chaseni'', p. 54).]
Scalation includes: 19, 17, or 15 rows of dorsal scales at midbody; 130–143 ventral scales; 20–30 paired subcaudal scales
In snakes, the subcaudal scales are the enlarged plates on the underside of the tail.Wright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. Comstock Publishing Associates (7th printing, 1985). 1105 pp. . These scales may be either single or divided (pair ...
; and 6 supralabial scales
In reptiles, the supralabial scales, also called upper-labials, are those scales that border the mouth opening along the upper jaw. They do not include the median scaleWright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. Comstock Publishing Associates ( ...
with the third being the highest.
Geographic range
''G. chaseni'' is only found on the island of Borneo, in northern Sabah ( Malaysia) in the region of Mount Kinabalu.[ The known range is within the Crocker Range and ]Kinabalu National Park
Kinabalu Park ( ms, Taman Kinabalu), established as one of the first national parks of Malaysia in 1964, is Malaysia's first World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO in December 2000 for its "outstanding universal values" and the role as one of ...
s.
Habitat
''G. chaseni'' is found in submontane
Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...
forests, living in leaf litter on the forest floor at elevations between above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
.
References
Further reading
* Malhotra A, Thorpe RS (2004). "A phylogeny of four mitochondrial gene regions suggests a revised taxonomy for Asian pitvipers (''Trimeresurus'' and ''Ovophis'')". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 32 (1): 83-100. (''Garthius'', new genus).
* Smith MA (1931). "The Herpetology of Mt. Kinabalu, North Borneo". ''Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, Singapore'' 5: 8-32. (''Trimeresurus chaseni'', new species, p. 29).
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15148339, from2=Q3011375
Crotalinae
Snakes of Southeast Asia
Reptiles of Malaysia
Endemic fauna of Borneo
Endemic fauna of Malaysia
Taxa named by Malcolm Arthur Smith
Monotypic snake genera
Reptiles of Borneo