A Morphological Study of Stejneger’s Pitviper Trimeresurus stejnegeri (Serpentes, Viperidae, Crotalinae), with the Description of a New Species from Thailand

Patrick David, Nicolas Vidal, Olivier S. G. Pauwels

Abstract


The status of populations currently referred to the green pitviper Trimeresurus stejnegeri in the Indochinese Peninsula and Thailand is reevaluated on the basis of 30 morphological characters obtained from 152 preserved specimens of T. stejnegeri and related species. These data, in conjunction with observations on living and freshly collected specimens, reveal the existence of an undescribed species from eastern central Thailand, which is named here. Preliminary comparisons with various populations of T. stejnegeri from China and the Indochinese Peninsula and a taxonomic discussion are also provided.

Keywords


Reptilia; Serpentes; Viperidae; Crotalinae; Trimeresurus; Trimeresurus stejnegeri; China; Thailand; Vietnam

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2001-8-3-205-222

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