Gloydius

Gloydius
File:Mamushi togurosugata.jpg
Gloydius blomhoffii, Japanese mamushi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Subfamily:	Crotalinae
Genus:	Gloydius Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981
Synonyms
Trigonocephalus – Kuhl & van Hasselt, 1822 Halys – Gray, 1849 Ancistrodon – Boulenger, 1896 Agkistrodon – Steneger, 1907 Gloydius Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981 Gloydins [sic] Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1983 (ex errore)

Common names: Asian moccasins, Asian ground pit viper.

Gloydius is a genus of venomous pitvipers endemic to Asia. Named after American herpetologist Howard K. Gloyd, this genus is very similar to the North American genus Agkistrodon. Nine species are currently recognized.

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.

Species

Species	Taxon author	Subsp.*	Common name	Geographic range
G. blomhoffii	(H. Boie, 1826)	3	Japanese mamushi	China, Korea and Japan.
G. halysT	(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. intermedius	(Strauch, 1868)	2	Central Asian pitviper	Southeastern Azerbaijan, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, northwestern Afghanistan, southern Russia, northwestern China and Mongolia.
G. monticola	(F. Werner, 1922)	0	Likiang pitviper	The mountains of northern Yunnan in China.
G. saxatilis	(Emelianov, 1937)	0	Rock mamushi	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. strauchi	(Bedriaga, 1912)	0	Strauch's pitviper	The Tibetan Plateau in the provinces of Tsinghai and western Szechwan, 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.

See also

• List of crotaline species and subspecies
• Crotalinae by common name
• Crotalinae by taxonomic synonyms
• Snakebite

Further reading

• Hoge AR, Romano-Hoge SA. 1981. Poisonous Snakes of the World. I. Checklist of the Pitvipers: Viperoidea, Viperidae, Crotalinae. Memórias do Instituto Butantan 42/43: 179-309. (Gloydius, new genus).

• Isogawa K, Moriya A, Mitsui S. 1994. A new snake from the genus Agkistrodon (Serpentes: Viperidae) from Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture. Japanese J. Herpetol. 15: 101-111.

External links

• Gloydius at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 12 December 2007.
• Taxonomy comparison by Dr. Wolfgang Wüster at Dr. Brian Grieg Fry's Int'l Venom & Toxin Database. Accessed 25 July 2007.