''Gloydius tsushimaensis'', or the Tsushima Island pitviper, is a species of

venomous snake Venomous snakes are Species (biology), species of the Suborder (biology), suborder Snake, Serpentes that are capable of producing Snake venom, venom, which they use for killing prey, for defense, and to assist with digestion of their prey. The v ...

in the family

Viperidae 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 ...

. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T (1999). ''Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1''. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. (series). (volume). The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Tsushima Island is an island of the Japanese archipelago situated in-between the Tsushima Strait and Korea Strait, approximately halfway between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula. The main island of Tsushima, once a single island, was divided into two in 1671 b ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Diet

''G. tsushimaensis'' is known to feed on frogs and shrews. Scavenging behavior has also been observed in the species.

Reproduction

While little is known about the mating seasons of ''

Gloydius ''Gloydius'' is a genus of venomous pitvipers endemic to Asia, also known as Asian moccasins or Asian ground pit vipers. Named after American herpetologist Howard K. Gloyd,Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dic ...

'' species in Japan, present observation suggests that the mating season of ''G. tsushimaensis'' is similar to that of '' G. blomhoffii'', which is considered to be August and September.

References

tsushimaensis Endemic reptiles of Japan Reptiles described in 1994 {{Alethinophidia-stub