Viperinae

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Viperinae, or viperines, are a subfamily of vipers endemic to Europe, Asia and Africa. They are distinguished by their lack of the heat-sensing pit organs that characterize their sister group, the subfamily Crotalinae. Currently, 13 genera are recognized.<ref name="ITIS">{{#if:563898 | {{#invoke:template wrapper|wrap|_template=cite web|_exclude=id,ID,taxon

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| Template:Citation error }}</ref> Most are tropical and subtropical, although one species, Vipera berus, even occurs within the Arctic Circle.<ref name="Mal03"/> Like all vipers, they are venomous.

The common names "pitless vipers", "true vipers", "Old World vipers",<ref name="Mal03">Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar. 359 pp. Template:ISBN.</ref> and "true adders"<ref name="USN91">U.S. Navy. 1991. Poisonous Snakes of the World. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. Template:ISBN.</ref> all refer to this group.

DescriptionEdit

Members of this subfamily range in size from Bitis schneideri, which grows to a maximum total length (body and tail) of Template:Convert, to the Gaboon viper, which reaches a maximum total length of over Template:Convert. Most species are terrestrial, but a few, such as those of the genus Atheris, are completely arboreal.<ref name="Mal03"/>

Although the heat-sensing pits that characterize the Crotalinae are clearly lacking in the viperines, a supernasal sac with sensory function has been described in a number of species. This sac is an invagination of the skin between the supranasal and nasal scales and is connected to the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve. The nerve endings here resemble those in the labial pits of boas. The supernasal sac is present in the genera Daboia, Pseudocerastes and Causus, but is especially well developed in the genus Bitis. Experiments have shown that strikes are not only guided by visual and chemical cues, but also by heat, with warmer targets being struck more frequently than colder ones.<ref name="Mal03"/>

Geographic rangeEdit

Viperinae are found in Europe, Asia, and Africa,<ref name="McD99">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. Template:ISBN (series). Template:ISBN (volume).</ref> but not in Madagascar.<ref name="Sti74">Stidworthy J. 1974. Snakes of the World. New York: Grosset & Dunlap Inc. 160 pp. Template:ISBN.</ref>

ReproductionEdit

Generally, members of this subfamily are ovoviviparous, although a few, such as Pseudocerastes, Cerastes, and some Echis species are oviparous (egg-laying).<ref name="Mal03"/>

GeneraEdit

Genus<ref name="ITIS"/>	Taxon author<ref name="ITIS"/>	Species<ref name="ITIS"/>	Common name<ref name="Mal03"/><ref name="SB95">Spawls S, Branch B. 1995. The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Ralph Curtis Books. Dubai: Oriental Press. 192 pp. Template:ISBN.</ref>	Geographic range<ref name="McD99"/>
Atheris	Cope, 1862	18	Bush vipers	Tropical sub-Saharan Africa, excluding southern Africa.
Bitis	Gray, 1842	18	Puff adders	Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula.
Cerastes	Laurenti, 1768	3	Horned vipers	North Africa eastward through Arabia and Iran.
Daboia	Gray, 1842	4	Day adders	Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, China (Guangxi and Guangdong), Taiwan and Indonesia (Endeh, Flores, east Java, Komodo, Lomblen islands).
Echis	Merrem, 1820	12	Saw-scaled vipers	India and Sri Lanka, parts of the Middle East and Africa north of the equator.
Eristicophis	Alcock and Finn, 1897	1	McMahon's viper	The desert region of Balochistan near the Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Macrovipera	Reuss, 1927	2	Large Palearctic vipers	Semideserts and steppes of Northern Africa, the Near and Middle East, and Milos in the Aegean Sea.
Montatheris	Broadley, 1996	1	Kenya mountain viper	Kenya: moorlands of the Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya above Template:Convert.
Montivipera	Nilson, Tuniyev, Andren, Orlov, Joger, & Herrmann, 1999	8	Upland vipers	Middle East
Proatheris	Broadley, 1996	1	Lowland viper	Floodplains from southern Tanzania (northern end of Lake Malawi) through Malawi to near Beira, central Mozambique.
Pseudocerastes	Boulenger, 1896	3	False-horned vipers	From the Sinai of Egypt eastward to Pakistan.
ViperaTemplate:Efn	Laurenti, 1768	21	Palearctic vipers	Great Britain and nearly all of continental Europe across the Arctic Circle and on some islands in the Mediterranean (Elba, Montecristo, Sicily) and Aegean Sea eastward across Northern Asia to Sakhalin and North Korea. Also found in Northern Africa in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

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TaxonomyEdit

Until relatively recentlyTemplate:When, two other genera were also included in the Viperinae. However, they were eventually considered so distinctive within the Viperidae, that separate subfamilies were created for them:<ref name="McD99"/>

Genus Azemiops — moved to subfamily Azemiopinae by Liem, Marx & Rabb (1971).
Genus Causus — recognition of subfamily Causinae Cope, 1860 was proposed by Groombridge (1987) and further supported by Cadle (1992).

Nevertheless, these groups, together with the genera currently recognized as belonging to the Viperinae, are still often referred to collectively as the true vipers.<ref name="Mal03"/>

Broadley (1996) recognized a new tribe, Atherini, for the genera Atheris, Adenorhinos, Montatheris and Proatheris, the type genus for which is Atheris.<ref name="McD99"/>

ReferencesEdit

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