Japanese pit viper

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For the character in the video game Warriors Orochi, see Mamushi (character).
Gloydius blomhoffii
File:Mamushi togurosugata.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Class:
Reptilia
Order:
Squamata
Suborder:
Serpentes
Family:
Viperidae
Subfamily:
Crotalinae
Genus:
Gloydius
Species:
G. blomhoffii
Binomial name
Gloydius blomhoffii
(H. Boie, 1826)
Synonyms
  • Trigonocephalus Blomhoffii
    H. Boie, 1826
  • Trigonocephalus [(Halys)] affinis Gray, 1849
  • Trigonocephalus [(Halys)] Blomhoffii — Gray, 1849
  • T[rigonocephalus]. Blomhoffii var. megaspilus Cope, 1860
  • Halys blomhoffii
    — W. Peters, 1862
  • T[rigonocephalus]. blomhoffii
    — Jan, 1963
  • Ancistrodon blomhoffii
    — Boulenger, 1896
  • Agkistrodon blomhoffii ? affinis
    — Stejneger, 1907
  • Ancistrodon halys blomhoffii
    — Nikolsky, 1916
  • Agkistrodon blomhoffii blomhoffii
    — Sternfeld, 1916
  • A[ncistrodon]. blomhoffii blomhoffii
    — F. Werner, 1922
  • Agkistrodon blomhoffii affinis
    — F. Werner, 1922
  • Ankistrodon halys blomhoffii
    — Pavloff, 1926
  • Agkistrodon halys blomhoffii
    — Mell, 1929
  • Agkistrodon halys affinis
    — Mell, 1929
  • Gloydius blomhoffii blomhoffii
    — Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981
  • Agkistrodon affinis
    — Gloyd & Conant, 1990[1]

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Gloydius blomhoffii, commonly known as the mamushi,[2] Japanese moccasin, Japanese pit viper, or Japanese mamushi,[3] is a venomous pitviper species found in China, Japan, and Korea. There are four subspecies including the nominate subspecies described here.[4]

This species and the Okinawan habu are the most venomous snakes in Japan.[5] Every year, 2000–3000 people in Japan are bitten by a mamushi. Bitten victims typically require one week of treatment in a hospital. Severe bites require intensive care, and approximately 10 victims die annually.[6][7]

Etymology

The specific name, blomhoffii, is in honor of Jan Cock Blomhoff, who was director of the Dutch trading colony in Nagasaki, Japan from 1817 to 1824.[8]

Description

The average total length of mature individuals is 45–81 cm (17¾-31⅞ inches); the longest specimen ever recorded had a total length of 91 cm (36 in).[2]

The body pattern consists of a pale gray, reddish-brown, or yellow-brown background, overlaid with a series of irregularly-shaped lateral blotches. These blotches are bordered with black and often have lighter centers. The head is dark brown or black, with beige or pale-gray sides.[2]

File:Mamushi chui.jpg
Sign warning for mamushi in Kyoto, Japan

Common names

The common name in English is mamushi,[2] or Japanese mamushi.[3] The common name in Japanese is mamushi (マムシ?). In Korea, it is known as 살모사 (salmosa).

Geographic range

It is found in China, Japan, and Korea. It is the most common snake in Japan.[9] According to Gloyd and Conant (1990), there is no evidence to support claims that this species occurs in the Ryukyu Islands. The type locality given is "Japan."[1]

Habitat

It occurs in a range of habitats, including swamps, marshes, meadows, open woodland, rocky hillsides, and montane rock outcroppings.[2]

Diet

File:Gloydius blomhoffii.jpg
A mamushi lurking in a bush a little above ground-level, waiting to ambush passing prey

It is typically an ambush predator that uses its excellent camouflage to hide itself in vegetation or leaf litter. It hunts and eats mainly rodents, but also small birds, lizards, and insects. It is often found in and around farmland due to the associated rodent populations.[2]

Venom

Characteristics

The venom of this species varies very little among Japan, China, and Korea in terms of both its potency and its effects.[10] According to Yoshimitsu (2005), this species and the Okinawan habu, another pitviper, are the most venomous snakes in Japan.[5] The venom's lethality as measured by LD50 in mice following intraperitoneal injection is in the range 0.3 mg/kg[11] to 1.22 mg/kg.[12] The venom mostly contains haemolytic toxins, but it also has two neurotoxins—an alpha-toxin that is a post-synaptic inhibitor and a beta-toxin that is a pre-synaptic inhibitor.[12] Because the beta-toxin acts pre-synaptically, its effects cannot be blocked or treated by anticholinesterases.[12] The venom contains an anticoagulant, mamushi L-amino-acid oxidase (M-LAO).[13] It also contains the peptide ablomin which is highly similar in amino acid sequence to that of the venom, helothermine, of the beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum).[14]

Treatments for envenomations

There is an effective antivenom manufactured in both Japan and China.[10] Its effectiveness is increased when co-administered with a serine protease inhibitor such as FOY (see, e.g. Camostat).[15] In common with many other venomous snakes, the mamushi is highly resistant to its own venom because of various neutralising factors present in its sera including phospholipase A2 (PLA2) inhibitors; these and other inhibitors are the target of antivenom development.[16]

Every year, 2000-3000 people in Japan are bitten by mamushi, severe bites require intensive care, and approximately 10 victims die.[6] There have been case reports of renal failure,[17] visual disturbances,[18] palsy, and miscarriage in pregnant women.[19]

In one study in Japan, mamushi bite victims required a median duration of 7 days of hospital treatment followed by a median of 31 days of out-patient treatment; the time to achieve a full recovery was even longer, taking up to several months.[7] The treatment protocol involved incision of the wound for exclusion of the venom, and injection of mamushi antivenom.[7]

Subspecies

Subspecies[4] Taxon author[4] Common name[20] Geographic range[2]
G. b. blomhoffii (H. Boie, 1826) Japanese mamushi Japan, including most of the smaller islands.
G. b. brevicaudus (Stejneger, 1907) Short-tailed mamushi Northeast China and the Korean Peninsula.
G. b. dubitatus (Gloyd, 1977) Tung Ling mamushi Restricted to Hebei Province, China.
G. b. siniticus (Gloyd, 1977) Yangtze mamushi Type locality: China, from Shandong, Jiang Su and Anhui provinces, south to the Ch'ang Chiang Basin and eastern Sichuan, Jiangxi and Hunan.

Taxonomy

There are five subspecies—the four mentioned in the table above, plus A. b. ussuriensis, which is found in Russia.[20] However, the fifth subspecies has also been considered a species: Gloydius ussuriensis.[1][2]

This species is similar to the cottonmouths and copperheads (Agkistrodon sp.) of the Americas, and it was long considered part of the same group (see synonymy).[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 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. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. Asian Pitvipers. First Edition. Berlin: Geitje Books. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Gloydius blomhoffi, p. 28).
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Watanabe H, Nagatake T, Matsumoto K, Sakamoto T, Rikitomi N, Hirano E. 1992. Effectiveness of protease inhibition in severe mamushi bite. Procs. XXXIV Annual Meetings of Japan Society of Tropical Medicine, 25–26 Nov 1992, Nagasaki, p.75. Preprint. Also published by same authors as Jpn J Trop Med Hyg, 21(1):39–92, 1993.
  16. ↑ Motou K, Yoshida A, Hattori S, Ohno M. 2003. A trial of muscle necrosis prevention by T. flavoviridis venom. Kagoshima University Journal of Medicine. 23:15–24.
  17. ↑ Otsuji Y, Irie Y, Ueda H, Yotsueda K, Kitahara T, Yokoyama K, Higashi Y. 1978. A case of acute renal failure caused by Mamushi (Agkistrodon halys) bite. Medical J Kagoshima Univ (in Japanese) 30:129–135.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Gloyd HK, Conant R. 1990. Snakes of the Agkistrodon Complex: A Monographic Review. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 614 pp. 52 plates. LCCN 89-50342. ISBN 0-916984-20-6.[page needed]

Further reading

  • Boie, H. 1826. Merkmale eineger japanischer Lurche. Isis von Oken 19: 203-216. (Trigonocephalus blomhoffii, pp. 214–215).

External links

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