Asian Pitvipers

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,^[2] this genus is very similar to the North American genus Agkistrodon. 24 species are currently recognized.^[3]

Geographic range

Species of Gloydius are found in Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, Himalayas from Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Korea, Japan and the Ryukyu Islands.^[1]

Species

Species^[3] Taxon author^[3] Subsp.*^[3] Common name^[4] Geographic range^[1] G. angusticeps Shi, Yang, Huang Orlov, & Li, 2018 0 Zoige pit viper China, (Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu). G. blomhoffii (H. Boie, 1826) 3 Japanese mamushi Japan. G. brevicauda (Stejneger, 1907) 0 Short-tailed mamushi North Korea, South Korea, and China. G. caraganus (Eichwald, 1831) 0 Karaganda pitviper Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. G. caucasicus (Nikolsky, 1916) 0 Caucasian pitviper Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Afghanistan. G. chambensis Kuttalam, Santra, Owens, Selvan, Mukherjee, Graham, Togridou, Bharti, Shi, Shanker & Malhotra, 2022^[5] 0 Chamba pitviper Chamba District, Himachal Pradesh. G. changdaoensis Li, 1999 0 China. G. cognatus (Gloyd, 1977) 0 Alashan pitviper China. G. halys^T (Pallas, 1776) 4 Siberian pitviper Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, Mongolia to northern and central China, as well as the southern Ryukyu Islands. G. himalayanus (Günther, 1864) 0 Himalayan pitviper Along the southern slopes of the Himalayas from northeastern Pakistan, to northern India (Kashmir, Punjab) and Nepal. Found at 1524–3048 m altitude. G. huangi Wang, Ren, Dong, Jiang, Shi, Siler, & Che, 2019 0 Lancang Plateau viper Tibet. G. intermedius (Strauch, 1868) 2 Central Asian pitviper Southeastern Azerbaijan, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, northwestern Afghanistan, southern Russia, northwestern China and Mongolia. G. lateralis Zhang, Shi, Li, Yan, Wang, Ding, Du, Plenković-Moraj, Jiang, Shi, 2022 0 Jiuzhaigou County, China.^[6] G. lipipengi Shi, Liu, Giri, Owens, Santra, Kuttalam, Selvan, Guo, & Malhotra, 2021 0 Nujiang pit viper China. G. liupanensis Liu, Song, & Luo, 1989 0 Gansu, China. G. monticola (F. Werner, 1922) 0 Likiang pitviper The mountains of northern Yunnan in China. G. qinlingensis Song & Chen, 1985 0 Shaanxi, China. G. rickmersi Wagner, Tiutenko, Borkin, & Simonov, 2015 Kyrgyzstan G. rubromaculatus Shi, Wang, Chen, Fang, Ding, Huang, Hou, Liu, & Li, 2017 0 Tibetan Plateau. G. saxatilis (Emelianov, 1937) 0 Rock mamushi^[7] Russia (eastern Siberia), northeastern China and North and South Korea. G. shedaoensis (Zhao, 1979) 0 Shedao island pitviper Shedao Island, off the coast of Liaotung, China. G. stejnegeri (Rendahl, 1933) 0 Gobi pitviper China and Mongolia. G. strauchi (Bedriaga, 1912) 0 Strauch's pitviper The Tibetan Plateau in the provinces of Tsinghai and western Szechwan, China. G. swild Shi, Liu, Giri, Owens, Santra, Kuttalam, Selvan, Guo, & Malhotra, 2021 0 China. G. tsushimaensis (Isogawa, Moriya & Mitsui, 1994) 0 Tsushima Island pitviper Tsushima Island, Japan. G. ussuriensis (Emelianov, 1929) 0 Ussuri mamushi Far east Russia (Primorskiy Kray), northeastern China, North and South Korea, as well as Quelpart Island.

*) Not including the nominate subspecies.
^T) Type species.

Taxonomy

Due to the strong morphological similarity, these snakes were classified in the genus Agkistrodon until very recently. However, by 1999 cladistic studies clearly showed that Agkistrodon did not form a clade (indeed, it was not even paraphyletic) and was thus split into several genera.

A new species, G. tsushimaensis, was described by Isogawa, Moriya & Mitsui (1994). It is referred to as the Tsushima island pitviper and is found only on Tsushima Island, Japan.

References