''Montivipera xanthina'', known as the rock viper, coastal viper, Ottoman viper,Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. ''True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers''. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. 359 pp. . and by other

common names In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contra ...

, is a

viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

found in northeastern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, as well as certain islands in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

. Like all other vipers, it is

venomous Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Description

Dorsally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

, it is grey or white with a black

zig-zag A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as a ...

stripe. Melanistic individuals exist. It has keeled

dorsal scales In snakes, the dorsal scales are the longitudinal series of plates that encircle the body, but do not include the ventral scales In snakes, the ventral scales or gastrosteges are the enlarged and transversely elongated scales that extend down t ...

. It usually grows to a total length (body + tail) of 70–95 cm (27.6-37.4 in), but reaches a maximum total length of 130 cm (51.2 in) on certain

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

islands in the

Behavior

Very aggressive, this snake will strike without provoking, and most bites inject venom.

Habitat

''Montivipera xanthina'' can be found living in humid areas. O'Shea, M. 2008. ''Venomous Snakes of the World''. London: New Holland Publishers Ltd. 160 pp. . (''Vipera xanthina'', p. 58.) It favors rocky and "well-vegetated" areas for its habitat.

Prey

The diet of ''M. xanthina'' is thought to consist of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

s and other small mammals and native

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s. It may

prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

on lizards, as well.

Common names

Rock viper, coastal viper, Ottoman viper, Turkish viper, Near East viper, mountain viper.Gotch AF. 1986. ''Reptiles -- Their Latin Names Explained''. Poole, UK: Blandford Press. 176 pp. .

Geographic range

Extreme northeastern

, the Greek islands of Simi,

Skiathos Skiathos ( el, Σκιάθος, , ; grc, Σκίαθος, ; and ) is a small Greek island in the northwest Aegean Sea. Skiathos is the westernmost island in the Northern Sporades group, east of the Pelion peninsula in Magnesia on the mainland ...

Kos Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...

, Kalimnos, Samothraki,

Leros Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flig ...

, Lipsos,

Patmos Patmos ( el, Πάτμος, ) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where John of Patmos received the visions found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. One of the northern ...

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a se ...

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of masti ...

and

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the nar ...

European Turkey East Thrace or Eastern Thrace ( tr, Doğu Trakya or simply ''Trakya''; el, Ανατολική Θράκη, ''Anatoliki Thraki''; bg, Източна Тракия, ''Iztochna Trakiya''), also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the pa ...

, the western half of

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

(inland eastward to Kayseri), and islands (e.g.

Chalki Halki ( el, Χάλκη; alternatively ''Chalce'' or ''Chalki'') is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese archipelago in the Aegean Sea, some west of Rhodes. With an area of , it is the smallest inhabited island of the Dodecanese. It ...

) of the Turkish mainland shelf. The type locality given is "Xanthus" outhwestern Turkey (Kınık) and "

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

." Listed as "Xanthos" by Schwarz (1936). Nilson and Andrén (1986) restricted the species to "

Xanthos Xanthos ( Lycian: 𐊀𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 ''Arñna'', el, Ξάνθος, Latin: ''Xanthus'', Turkish: ''Ksantos'') was an ancient major city near present-day Kınık, Antalya Province, Turkey. The remains of Xanthos lie on a hill on the left b ...

" Xanthus(Kınık) province Mugla, S. W. Turkish Anatolia" through

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

designation.

Conservation status

This species is classified as least concern according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed as such due to its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category. It is, however, listed as strictly protected (Appendix II) under the

Berne Convention The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal to agree on a set of leg ...

.Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, Appendix II
a
Council of Europe
Accessed 9 October 2006.

Taxonomy

According to Nilson, Andrén and Flärdh (1990), '' M. bornmuelleri'', '' M. bulgardaghica'', '' M. wagneri'' and ''M. xanthina'' are all closely related and together form the ''Montivipera xanthina'' group or complex.

Venom

There's not much information and data about the venom composition, activity, and lethality of this specific species. However, similar to other species within the genus ''Montivipera'' and the related ''Vipera'' genus, it has mainly cytotoxic, haemotoxic, and other minor components to its venom. Although it injects only small amounts of venom in a bite, the venom of this species is highly potent and has been known to have caused fatalities in adult humans. This can be more common in young children or older individuals that get a case of severe envenomation (especially if fangs inject venom directly into a vein, for instance). According to ''Batzri-Izraeli et al, 1982'', the value via intravenous injection (IV) was 0.25 mg/kg. Similarly, Iranian herpetologist Mahmoud Latifi found the lethality () of the crude venom from the species ''Montivipera xanthina'' to be 0.42 mg/kg in a 1984 study, and 0.35 mg/kg in a 1985 study, which Latifi conducted for the Department of the Environment in Iran (was translated to English in 1991). For most adult male humans of , the estimated lethal dose is thought to be between 40-50 mg. In his 1984 study, Latifi found the average venom yield to be 10 mg (dry weight of milked venom). This average was attained from the milking of 4,446 specimens of ''M. xanthina''. The maximum yield was 18 mg (dry weight of milked venom) in the same study.

External links

*
''Montivipera xanthina''
a
Amphibians and Reptiles of Europe
Accessed 18 January 2010. {{Taxonbar, from=Q641092 xanthina Reptiles of Europe Reptiles of Turkey Reptiles described in 1849 Taxa named by John Edward Gray