Echis carinatus multisquamatus

Echis carinatus multisquamatus, known as the multiscale saw-scaled viper and transcaspian saw-scaled viper,[2] is a viper subspecies[3] found in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Like all other vipers, it is venomous.

Echis carinatus multisquamatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Genus: Echis
Species:
E. carinatus
Subspecies:
E. c. multisquamatus
Trinomial name
Echis carinatus multisquamatus
Cherlin, 1981
Synonyms[1]
  • Echis multisquamatus
    Cherlin, 1981
  • Echis (Turanechis) multisquamatus
    — Cherlin, 1990
  • Echis carinatus multisquamatus
    — Auffenberg & Rehman, 1991
  • Echis carinata multisquamatus — Das, 1996

Description

This subspecies grows to 38–80 cm (15–31 in) in total length (body + tail), but usually no more than 60 cm (24 in).[4]

Its head marking is always cross-shaped. Its lateral white line is continuous and undulating. Narrow transverse white bands occur on the middorsum. The dorsal scales are in 34-40 rows at midbody, the highest number of rows of all subspecies of E. carinatus. The ventrals number 169-199 (highest of all subspecies).[2]

Geographic range

The range for this snake is from Uzbekistan, south to Iran, and east to western Pakistan.[4]

The Wildlife of Pakistan website describes the range as from the Caspian Sea, through Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent), into Tajikistan, along the Afghan border up to Hindukush, northeastern Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and eastern Iran.[2]

The type locality is listed as "Bairam-Ali, Mariskaya oblast, Turkmeniya" (Baýramaly, Mary Region, Turkmenistan).[1]

Taxonomy

It was classified as a separate species, E. multisquamatus, when first described by Cherlin (1981).[1]

References
  1. 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. Saw-scaled Viper, ... at Wildlife of Pakistan, Accessed 3 August 2006.
  3. "Echis carinatus multisquamatus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 1 August 2006.
  4. Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. 359 pp. ISBN 0-89464-877-2.

Further reading
  • Auffenberg W, Rehman H. 1991. Studies on Pakistan Reptiles. Pt. 1. The genus Echis (Viperidae). Bull. Florida Mus. Nat. Hist., Biol Sci. 35 (5): 263-314.
  • Cherlin VA. 1981. [A new saw-scaled viper, Echis multisquamatus sp. nov., from southwestern and central Asia]. [Proc. Zool. Inst. Acad. Sci. USSR] 101: 92-95. (in Russian).
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