Trimeresurus
It is a genus of venomous pit vipers that are distributed in Asia and found from the Indian subcontinent through Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Japan, The Malay archipelago to Timor and China. Trimeresurus genus includes relatively small and primarily arboreal species having thin body with prehensile tail. Though species such as Trimeresurus flavoviridis reported to attain of 242 cm, and is known as the longest pit viper in East Asia. Most of species under Trimeresurus genus are normally having green colored body; however some other species may also have orange, yellow, red, black, or gold motifs. The diet of theses serpent includes birds, amphibians, lizards, small rodents and mammals. Currently there are around 32 species documented under the genus so far.
Trimeresurus malabaricus (Image Source: commons.wikimedia.org)
Alike most other viper species, almost all species in the genus are ovoviviparous, except some species like T. flavoviridis, T. kaulbacki, and T. macrolepis which are oviparous. Te species fall under the genus are T. albolabris Gray, 1842 (White-lipped pit viper); T. andalasensis David, Vogel, Vijaykumar & Vidal, 2006 (Sumatran palm pit viper); T. andersonii Theobald, 1868 (Anderson’s pit viper, Andaman pit viper); T. borneensis W. Peters, 1872 (Bornean pit viper); T. arunachalensis Captain, Deepak, Pandit, Bhatt, and Athreya, 2019 (Arunachal pit viper); T. cantori (Blyth, 1846) (Cantor's pit viper); T. brongersmai Hoge, 1969 (Brongersma's pit viper); T. erythrurus Cantor, 1839 (Red-tailed bamboo pit viper); T. cardamomensis Malhotra, Thorpe, Mrinalini, & Stuart, 2011 (Cardamom Mountains green pit viper); T. gracilis Ōshima, 1920 (Kikushi habu); T. fasciatus Boulenger, 1896 (Banded pit viper); T. flavomaculatus Gray, 1842 (Philippine pit viper); T. gramineus Shaw, 1802 (Bamboo pit viper); T. gumprechti David, Vogel, Pauwels & Vidal, 2002 (Gumprecht's green pit viper); T. gunaleni Vogel, David, & Sidik, 2014 (Gunalen's pit viper); T. hageni Lidth de Jeude, 1886 (Hagen's pit viper); T. honsonensis Grismer, Ngo, & Grismer, 2008 (Hon Son pit viper); T. insularis Kramer, 1977 (Sunda Island pit viper orWhite-lipped island pit viper); T. kanburiensis Smith, 1943 (Kanburi pit viper); T. labialis Steindachner, 1867 (Nicobar bamboo pit viper); T. macrolepis Beddome, 1862 (Large-scaled pit viper); T. macrops Kramer, 1977 (Large-eyed pit viper); T. malabaricus Jerdon, 1854 (Malabar rock pit viper); T. malcolmi Loveridge, 1938 (Malcolm's pit viper); T. mcgregori Taylor, 1919 (McGregor's pit viper or McGregor's tree viper or Philippine pit viper); T. medoensis Zhao, 1977 (Motuo bamboo pit viper); T. mutabilis Stoliczka, 1870 (Central Nicobar pit viper or Central Nicobar bamboo pit viper); T. nebularis Vogel, David, & Pauwels, 2004 (Cameron Highlands pit viper or Clouded pit viper); T. phuketensis Sumontha, Kunya, S.G. Pauwels, Nitikul & Punnadee, 2011 (Phuket pit viper); T. popeiorum Smith, 1937 (Popes' pit viper); T. puniceus Kuhl, 1824 (Flat-nosed pit viper); T. purpureomaculatus Gray, 1832 (Mangrove pit viper); T. rubeus Malhotra, 2011 (Ruby-eyed green pit viper); T. sabahi Regenass & Kramer, 1981 (Sabah bamboo pit viper or Sabah pit viper); T. Salazar Mirza, Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande, & Patel 2020 (Salazar’s pit viper); T. schultzei Griffin, 1909 (Schultze's pit viper); T. septentrionalis Kramer, 1977 (Nepal pit viper or Himalayan white-lipped pit viper); T. sichuanensis Guo & Wang, 2011 (Sichuan pit viper); T. stejnegeri Schmidt, 1925 (Stejneger's pit viper); T. strigatus Gray, 1842 (Horseshoe pit viper); T. sumatranus Raffles, 1822 (Sumatran pit viper); T. tibetanus Huang, 1982 (Tibetan bamboo pit viper); T. trigonocephalus Donndorff, 1798 (Sri Lankan pit viper); T. truongsonensis Orlov, Ryabov, Thanh, & Cuc, 2004 (Quang Binh pit viper); T. venustus Vogel, 1991 (Beautiful pit viper or Brown-spotted pit viper); T. vogeli David, Vidal & Pauwels, 2001 (Vogel's pit viper); T. wiroti Trutnau, 1981 (Wirot's pit viper) and T. yingjiangensis Chen, Zhang, Shi, et al., 2019 (T. yunnanensis Schmidt, 1925 (Yunnan bamboo pit viper).
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Trimeresurus malabaricus
(Image Source: L. Shyamal - commons.wikimedia.org)
Trimeresurus malabaricus is nocturnal species
but can be sighted basking on rocks and trees nearby streams. The species is
most active during the monsoon months.
It is usually a slow moving serpent but have the capacity of strike fast when needed.
Malabar pit viper is
moderate venomous species whose bite is not recorded as lethal to humans; bite
of the serpent causes moderate pain and swelling which generally subsides
within a day or two.
The
species is endemic to the hills of
Western Ghats dispersed along the southern and western parts of India
occurring at an altitude ranging from 600–2,000 m.asl. The prime diet of the serpent includes frogs, birds, lizards, and
rodents. In its range the serpent has
been recorded from different localities viz., Amboli hills, Travancore hills, Nilgiris, Periyar
Tiger Reserve, Meghamalai, Palni hills, Anaimalai, Goa and Karnataka.
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Scientific
classification |
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Kingdom: |
Animalia |
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Phylum: |
Chordata |
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Class: |
Reptilia |
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Order: |
Squamata |
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Suborder: |
Serpentes |
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Family: |
Viperidae |
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Genus: |
Trimeresurus |
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Species: |
malabaricus |
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Binomial name |
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Trimeresurus malabaricus
(Jerdon, 1854) |
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Trimeresurus malabaricus is viviparous species which
give birth to 4-5 live juveniles They may attain maximum snout to vent length
of 41 inches, whereas males of the species are always smaller than their female
counterparts like most of the serpents.
Males of the species seem to have grayer and blotchier
morphs which prefer ground level. However on the other hand females choose high
canopy forests and show more intense morphs. Thus it also makes them more
susceptible to habitat loss. This species in its range inhabits the riparian
forests and prefers hilly streams and inundations sited inside dense
rainforests mostly, but may claim deciduous and evergreen forests
sometimes also, where it can be sighted on ground debris, on rocks near streams.
Scalation observed in this species is as:
Supralabials 9-10/9-10, first separating the nasal completely; there is a row
of scales present between the upper labials and subocular scale; 7-9 between
the eyes, dorsal scales are in 21/23:19?21:15/17 rows and low keeled; ventral
143-158 in males and 136-159 in females; Anal single; Subcaudal are 50-63
(paired) in males and 44-54 (paired) in females. Hemipenis is observed at 12th
caudal plate.
There is no serious threat to the species except
habit loss due to deforestation in its range. It is also categorized as least concern (LC) by IUCN.
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at en.wikipedia.org
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