Tropidolaemus wagleri

Tropidolaemus wagleri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Subfamily:	Crotalinae
Genus:	Tropidolaemus
Species:	T. wagleri
Binomial name
Tropidolaemus wagleri (Boie, 1827)
Synonyms
C[ophias]. Wagleri - H. Boie, 1826 [Cophias] Wagleri - F. Boie, 1827 Tropidolaemus wagleri - Wagler, 1830 Trigonoc[ephalus]. wagleri - Schlegel, 1837 Trimesurus maculatus - Gray, 1842 Trimesurus Philippensis - Gray, 1842 Trimesurus subannulatus - Gray, 1842 Trigonocephalus Wagleri var. Celebensis - Gray, 1849 Trigonocephalus Wagleri var. Sumatrensis - Gray, 1849 Tropidolaemus hombronii - Guichenot In Jacquinot & Guichenot, 1853 Tropidolaemus wagleri - Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 Tropidolaemus hombroni - Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 Tropidolaemus Schlegelii - Bleeker, 1857 T[rigonocephalus]. Hombroni - Jan, 1859 Tropidolaemus Philippensis - Peters, 1861 Tropidolaemus subannulatus - Peters, 1861 Trimeresurus wagleri - Günther, 1864 Tropidolaemus Schlegeli - Theobald, 1868 Tropidolaemus subannulatus var. celebensis - Peters, 1872 Tropidolaemus subannulatus var. immaculatus - Peters, 1872 Bothrops Wagleri - Müller, 1880 Lachesis wagleri - Boulenger, 1896 Trimeresurus wagleri alboviridis - Taylor, 1917 Trimeresurus philippensis - Taylor, 1922 Trimeresurus wagleri wagleri - Taylor, 1922 Trimeresurus wagleri philippensis - Taylor, 1922 Trimeresurus wagleri subannulatus - Taylor, 1922 [Bothrops] philippensis - Maslin, 1942 Tropidolaemus wagleri - Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981 Tropidolaemus philippinensis - David & Vogel, 1996 Trimesurus philippinensis - David & Vogel, 1996 Trimeresurus philippinensis - David & Vogel, 1996 Tropidolaemus wagleri - David & Vogel, 1996[1]

Common names: Wagler's pit viper, temple viper, temple pit viper,^[2] more.

Tropidolaemus wagleri is a venomous pitviper species native to southeast Asia. The epithet, wagleri, is in honor of German herpetologist Johann Georg Wagler. No subspecies are currently recognized.^[3] It is sometimes referred to as the temple viper because of its abundance around the Temple of the Azure Cloud in Malaysia.

Description

This species is sexually dimorphic: the females grow to approximately 1 m in length, while males typically do not exceed 75 cm. They have a large triangular shaped head, with a relatively thin body. Almost entirely arboreal, the tail is prehensile to aid in climbing.

They are found in a wide variety of colors and patterns, often referred to as "phases". In the past, some researchers classified the different phases as subspecies. The phases vary greatly from having a black or brown coloration as a base, with orange and yellow banding to others having a light green as the base color, with yellow or orange banding, and many variations therein.

Common names

Wagler's pit viper, temple viper, temple pit viper,^[2] bamboo snake, temple snake, speckled pit viper,^[4] temple pitviper.^[5]

Geographic range

Found in southern Thailand west Malaysia, in Indonesia on Sumatra, the islands of the Riau Archipelago, Bangka, Billiton, Nias, the Mentawai Islands (Siberut), Natuna, Karimata, Borneo (Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan), Sulawesi and Buton, and in the Philippines on the islands of Balabac, Basilan, Bohol, Dinagat, Jolo, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Negros, Palawan, Samar and Tumindao. A type locality is not included in the original description, although Schlegel (1837) given "Sumatra".^[1]

Behavior

Nocturnal and arboreal, they appear quite sluggish as they remaining motionless for long periods of time waiting for prey to pass by. When prey does pass by, or if disturbed, they can strike quickly.

Feeding

Their primary diet consists of rodents, birds, and lizards. The pits on the sides of the head between the eyes and nostrils are capable of detecting temperature difference of as little as 0.003 degree Celsius.^[6]

Venom

Their venom is a strong hemotoxin, and is potentially fatal to humans.

Taxonomy

This species has undergone much taxonomic reclassification over the years and was previously placed in the genus Trimeresurus. However, their distinctly different morphology and venom characteristics set them apart, so that eventually a new genus was erected in which they were placed together with Hutton's viper, Tropidolaemus huttoni.

See also

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

References

1. ^ ^{a b} McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
2. ^ ^{a b} Mehrtens JM. 1987. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
3. ^ "Tropidolaemus wagleri". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=634939. Retrieved 25 May 2007. 
4. ^ U.S. Navy. 1991. Poisonous Snakes of the World. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. ISBN 0-486-26629-X.
5. ^ Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. Asian Pitvipers. GeitjeBooks Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4.
6. ^ [1]

External links

• Tropidolaemus wagleri at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 12 December 2007.
• Ecology Asia page on Tropidolaemus wagleri
• Video of several species, including Tropidolaemus wagleri. on YouTube. Accessed 1 March 2007.