Bitis gabonica rhinoceros

Common names: West African gaboon viper.^[2]

Bitis gabonica rhinoceros is a venomous viper subspecies^[3] found in West Africa. It is distinguished from the nominate subspecies primarily by the presence of a set of large nasal horns.^[2]

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Description

B. g. rhinoceros has a distinctive set of enlarged nasal scales that look like a pair of horns on its nose. This is a characteristic that it shares with a close relative, B. nascornis. However, B. nasicornis has a brighter color pattern and a narrower head.^[4] B. g. gabonica has no such enlarged nasal horns, and is overall somewhat smaller than B. g. rhinoceros. Also, with B. g. gabonica, the dark triangular marking leading back from the eye towards the angle of the mouth is divided. With B. g. rhinoceros it is not.  

Geographic range

West Africa from Ghana west to Guinea, including Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast. Togo is also mentioned.^[1][2][4]

According to Spawls & Branch (1995), Ghana and Togo are at the eastern limit of the range of this subspecies, and they begin to intergrade here with B. g. gabonica. The distribution map they provide indicates that the general range for B. g. rhinoceros does not include Togo, but that there has been at least one report of a specimen found there.^[4] Togo, together with Benin and at least eastern Ghana, are part of a larger region known as the Dahomey Gap; a relatively dry region that separates the rainforests of West Africa from those of Central Africa.^[5][6]

See also

• List of viperine species and subspecies
• Viperinae by common name
• Viperinae by taxonomic synonyms
• Snakebite

References