Mangshan Pit Viper (Protobothrops mangshanensis) Fact Sheet: Taxonomy & History

Taxonomy

• First scientific description of this species in 1989 by herpetologist Ermi Zhao and physician Yuan Hui Chen (Chen 1990; Zhao and Chen 1990; Guo et al. 2012; Gong et al. 2013)
  • Originally named Trimeresurus mangshanensis
  • Later assigned to Ermria and after that Zhaoermia—both to honor Ermi Zhao after he died (Messenger and Malhotra 2016)
• Now placed in the genus Protobothrops (Guo et al. 2007; Malholtra et al. 2010; Quijada-Mascareñas and Wüster 2010)

Nomenclature

• Genus: Protobothrops
  • Proto from the Greek for "before" or "early"; bothros from the Greek for "pit" and ops from the Greek for "eye" or "face"
    • Alludes to heat-sensitive organs located between the eyes and nostrils
• Species: mangshanensis
  • Refers to Mt. Mang, where this snake is endemic (wild populations only found there) (Chen 1990; Zhao and Chen 1990; Zhao 1998)

Synonyms

• Trimeresurus mangshanensis (Gumprecht et al. 2002)
• Zhaoermia mangshanensis (Gong et al. 2012 citing Gumprecht and Tillack 2004; Zhou 2022)
• Emeria mangshanensis (Gumprecht et al. 2002)
• Also see Uetz et al. (2025)

Common names

• Mangshan pit viper, Mang Mountain pit viper, Mt. Mang pit viper (English) (Zhao 1998; Uetz et al. 2025)
• Most current Chinese name is “Mangshan yuan mao tou fu” (Kevin Messenger, personal communication, 2025)
  • Members of Protobothrops are called “yuan mao tou fu,” meaning “spear-head” (head shaped like the tip of a lance or spear) (Kevin Messenger, personal communication, 2025)
• Also originally called “Mangshan laotietou” (Chinese) (Chen 1990; Zhao and Chen 1990)
  • Means “Mangshan iron-head snake” (Chen 1990; Zhao and Chen 1990)
  • Today, “laotietou” is more commonly the name for members of the genus Ovophis (Kevin Messenger, personal communication, 2025)
• The Japanese common name, "Habu," refers more generally to Protobothrops species (Messenger and Malhotra 2016)

Fossil history

• Oldest pit viper fossils (Subfamily Crotalinae)
  • From Kazakhstan (Ivanov et al. 2019; Martin Ivanov, personal communication, 2025)
    • Late Middle Miocene (approximately 12 mya)
  • In Europe, additional early fossils from Ukraine (Kuch et al. 2006; Ivanov 2022)
    • Early Late Miocene (approximately 11.2 mya) (Martin Ivanov, personal communication, 2025)
• Oldest viper fossils (Family Viperidae)
  • From Germany (Paclík and Ivanov 2022; Ivanov 2022) and France (Szyndlar and Rage 2002)
    • Appeared in fossil record no later than 23.0 to 21.7 mya (Martin Ivanov, personal communication, 2025)

Evolutionary relationships

• Protobothrops mangshanensis, Mangshan pit viper
  • Evolutionarily distinct within the genus Protobothrops (Guo et al. 2016)
  • Diverged early from other Protobothrops species (Guo et al. 2016)
• Genus Protobothrops
  • Likely originated in southwestern China (Guo et al. 2016)
  • Split from the genus Ovophis and other Asian pit vipers about 20 to 25 mya (Wüster et al. 2008; Alencar et al. 2016)
• Subfamily Crotalinae (pit vipers)
  • Asiatic and New World pit vipers diverged about 24 mya (Wüster et al. 2008)
    • Pit vipers likely originated in Eurasia and later dispersed to Central America (Parkinson et al. 2002; Wüster et al. 2008; Pontes‐Nogueira et al. 2025), perhaps around the late Oligocene/early Miocene (Alencar et al. 2016)
      • More tropical conditions than the Eurasian climates of today led to a rapid diversification of snakes (Ivanov 2022)
  • Diverged from vipers without heat-detecting sensory pits (Subfamily Viperinae) approximately 22 mya (late Miocene) (Head et al. 2016)
• Family Viperidae (vipers)
  • Likely originated in Asia (reviewed by Pontes‐Nogueira et al. 2025)
  • Vipers diverged from other snakes roughly 60 to 65 mya, with a shared common ancestor about 40 to 45 mya (Wüster et al. 2008; Alencar et al. 2016; Zheng and Wiens 2016)

Closest extant/living relatives

• Other members of the genus Protobothrops (Malhotra et al. 2010; Pyron et al. 2011; Pyron et al. 2013)
• Members of the genera Ovophis and Gloydius (two groups of Asian pit vipers) and possibly certain Trimeresurus species (Malhotra et al. 2010; Pyron et al. 2011; Pyron et al. 2013; Alencar et al. 2016)

Culture and folklore

• One newspaper article (Duan 2011) nicknamed the Mangshan pit viper “the panda of snakes” because this species is more rare than the giant panda (Duan 2011; Baldwin 2025)

Media & Entertainment

• Television
  • Mangshan pit viper has been featured in Chinese news, due to its large size, striking color patterns, and toxic venom (Gumprecht et al. 2002; Gong et al. 2013)

Art

• Sculpture
  • A statue of Yuan Hui Chen—who, in 1989, first discovered and was co-author on the scientific description of the Mangshan pit viper (see Taxonomy, above)—is located in front of the Mangshan Museum of Natural History (Duan 2011)
    • Donated in 2008 by local businesspeople
    • Depicts Chen with a snake across his shoulders

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia (Laurenti, 1768) — reptiles

Order: Squamata (Oppel, 1811) — amphibians, lizards, snakes, serpents

Family: Viperidae (Oppel, 1811) — vipers, including pit vipers

Genus: Protobothrops (Hoge and Romano-Hoge, 1983)

Species: Protobothrops mangshanensis (Zhao in Zhao and Chen, 1990); originally described as Trimeresurus mangshanensis)

Sources: Hoge and Romano-Hoge (1983), Zhao and Chen (1990), Guo et al. (2007), Zhou (2012), Uetz et al. (2025)

The Mangshan Pit Viper goes by several similar common names.

In English, this snake is also known as the Mt. Mang pit viper or Mang Mountain pit viper. In Chinese, it's most current name is Mangshan yuan mao tou fu.

These names—along with its scientific species name, mangshanensis—all refer to the mountain in China where this snake was first discovered in 1989.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.