''Trimeresurus septentrionalis'', commonly known as the Nepal pit viper or northern white-lipped 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''. GeitjeBooks. Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. . is a

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 ...

pit viper 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 ...

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

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Description

Total length males 610 mm, females 730 mm. The head scalation consists of 10–11(12)

upper labials 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 ( ...

, the first of which are fused to the nasal. The head scales are small, subequal and feebly imbricate, smooth or weakly keeled. The

supraoculars In scaled reptiles, supraocular scales are (enlarged) scales on the crown immediately above the eye.Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. ...

are narrow and undivided with 9–11 interocular scales between them. The temporal scales are smooth. Midbody there are 21 longitudinal dorsal scale rows. There are 162–172 ventrals in males, 160–181 in females. The subcaudals are paired and number 68–83 in males, 55–71 in females. The

hemipenes A hemipenis (plural hemipenes) is one of a pair of intromittent organs of male squamata, squamates (snakes, lizards and amphisbaenia, worm lizards). Hemipenes are usually held inverted within the body, and are everted for reproduction via erecti ...

are without spines. The colour pattern is green above. The belly is green, yellowish or white below. A faint ventrolateral stripe present in all males, but absent in females. The end of tail not mottled brown. Holotype: MHNG 1404.31

Geographic range

It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and northwestern India (

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

). The type locality is given as "Nepal 83^o 55' 28^o 15' 1500 m (Nähe Pokhara)". Regenass & Kramer (1981) list the type locality as "Hyangcha (Nepal) 83^o 55' E.L. 28^o 15' N.B. 1500 m". Holotype: MHNG 1404.31.

Taxonomy

Elevated to a

, ''T. septentrionalis'', by Giannasi et al. (2001). Returned to a subspecies, ''T. a. septentrionalis'', by Leviton et al. (2003). Elevated to a species in another

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

, ''Cryptelytrops septentrionalis'', by Malhotra & Thorpe (2004). Returned to genus ''Trimeresurus'' and placed in

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

''Trimeresurus (Trimeresurus)'' by David et al. (2011). (See synonyms.)

Description

Geographic range

Taxonomy

References

Further reading