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

Mangshan Pit Viper (Protobothrops mangshanensis)

Update in Progress

Dear Readers,

This fact sheet, like a snake, is about to slough its skin. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is working to bring you an updated version of the Mangshan Pit Viper Fact Sheet with new science and conservation information. Thanks for your patience, as we crawl among the treetops (yes, this pit viper climbs very well) to bring you new facts. Please check back soon. SDZWA team members can email questions to library@sdzwa.org.

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

  • Common name: Mangshan pit viper; the pit viper from Mt. Mangshan
  • Scientific name: 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 between eye and nostril)
  • Above taxonomy according to Guo et al. (2007) and McDiarmid et al. (1999)
  • This large Asian pit viper was discovered in 1989 and named Trimeresurus mangshanensis by Zhao (1990)
    • Original description based on two juveniles
  • Zhang (1993) later assigned this pit viper to a newly created genus Ermia
    • The name Ermia was invalid because it already described an insect (Gumprecht & Tillack 2004)
  • Zhaoermia became the genus substituted for Ermia (Gumprecht & Tillack 2004).
  • Guo et al. (2007) said this viper should now be considered as the genus Protobothrops (Quijada-Mascareñas and Wüster 2009)

Evolutionary History

  • All snakes and many lizards probably evolved from a single venomous ancestor (Quijada-Mascareñas and Wüster 2009)
  • Earliest snakes lived around 135 million years ago (Early Cretaceous); fossils found in Spain and in Sahara Desert (Gardner & Ciffeli 1999)
  • All advanced snakes evolved during Cenozoic Era (Weinstein et al. 2010) (Pyron et al. 2010) after the demise of dinosaurs 65 million years ago
  • The family Viperidae probably originated earlier than 24 million years ago in Asia (Wüster et al 2008).
  • Oldest fossils in Viperidae family are known from western Europe at least 24 million years ago (Szyndlar & Rage 2002)
  • Pit viper (Crotalinae) fossils are first recognized from Eurasian fossils (Parkinson et al. 2002)
    • Pit vipers evolved specialized venom glands, teeth, muscles and behaviors to defend themselves and to kill their prey (Weinstein et al. 2010)
  • Old world pit vipers made one dispersal event into North America from Asia, then several later invasions into South America (Wüster et al 2002)
    • Initial route into North America probably across the Bering Land Bridge
  • Pit vipers (Crotalinae) are widely distributed today in Southeast Asia and the New World. (Campbell & Brodie 1992)
    • Pit vipers represent about 6% of all snake species (Green 1992)

Cultural History

  • This pit viper may resemble the green dragon totem of Yao people near Mangshan Mountain in Hunan Province, China (China Daily 2011)
  • A statue of the Mangshan pit viper's discoverer stands in front of the Mangshan Museum of Natural History (China Daily 2011)
  • Many advances in modern medicine have resulted from the study of viper venoms

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia (Laurenti, 1768) - reptiles

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

Family: Viperidae (Oppel, 1811) - pit vipers, vipers

Genus: Protobothrops

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

Source: Zhou (2012)

Lines and Curves

S-curve of a Mangshan pit viper

The evolutionary origins of pit vipers can be traced to Eurasia.

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

Page Citations

Campbell & Brodie (1992)
Ernst & Zug (1996)
Gardner & Ciffeli (1999)
Gumprecht & Tillack (2004)
Guo et al. (2007)
Orlov et al. (2009)
McDiarmid et al. (1999)
Parkinson et al. (2002)
Quijada-Mascareñas and Wüster (2009)
Szyndlar & Rage (2002)
Weinstein et al. (2010)
Wuster et al. (2008)
Zhang (1993)
Zhao (1990)

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