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Macrovipera

Macrovipera

Blunt-nosed viper, M. l. turanica

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Subfamily:	Viperinae
Genus:	Macrovipera Reuss, 1927

Synonyms

Macrovipera - Reuss, 1927^[1]

Common names: large Palearctic vipers.^[2]

Macrovipera is a genus of venomous vipers that inhabit the semideserts and steppes of North Africa, the Near and Middle East, and the Milos Archipelago in the Aegean Sea.^[1] These snakes are responsible for a number of bites in Africa and western Asia every year. They have a reputation for being ill-tempered and can inject a lot of venom, which is why they should be considered as very dangerous.^[3] Four species are currently recognized.^[4]

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Description

Except for M. schweizeri, these snakes are all capable of exceeding 1.5 m in length.^[3]

The head is broad, flat, and distinct from the neck. Dorsally, it is covered with small, irregular keeled scales. The supraoculars are also fragmented or partially divided. There seems to be a lot of variation in the different scale characteristics.^[3]

Geographic range

Morocco, Algeria and Tunis in North Africa, east to Pakistan, Kashmir and India, north to the Milos Archipelago in the Aegean Sea (Greece), Armenia and Dagestan (Russia). To the south, there is only one old record from Yemen.^[3]

Habitat

Members of this genus are adapted to arid and dry habitats.^[3]

Reproduction

All of these species lay eggs (oviparous).^[3]

Species

Species^[1]	Authority^[1]	Subsp.*	Common name	Geographic range^[1]
M. deserti	(Anderson, 1892)	0	Desert viper	North Africa: Libya, Tunisia and possibly Algeria.
M. lebetina^T	(Linnaeus, 1758)	4	Blunt-nosed viper	Dagestan, Algeria, Tunisia, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Russian Caucasia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhistan, Tadzikhistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir.
M. mauritanica	(Duméril & Bibron, 1848)	0	Moorish viper	Northwestern Africa: Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
M. schweizeri	(Werner, 1935)	0	Milos viper	The Grecian islands of the Cyclades Archipelago in the Aegean Sea: Milos and the three smaller, adjacent islands of Siphnos, Kimolos and Polinos.

*) Not including the nominate subspecies (typical form).
^T) Type species.

Taxonomy

The genus Macrovipera was created by Theodore Francis A. Reuss (1927), specifically to accommodate M. lebetina (the type species). The three other species currently recognized were, at one point, all regarded as subspecies of M. lebetina. It is now likely that certain subspecies of M. lebetina will also be elevated to valid species status in the not too distant future.^[3] Regarding the geographic range of M. lebetina, it is possible that this species is now extinct in Israel.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e 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).
^ Spawls S, Branch B. 1995. The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Ralph Curtis Books. Dubai: Oriental Press. 192 pp. ISBN 0-88359-029-8.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida. 359 pp. ISBN 0-89464-877-2.
^ Macrovipera (TSN 634425). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 5 August 2006.
^ Macrovipera lebetina at the New Reptile Database. Accessed 9 August 2007.

Category: Viperinae

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Macrovipera". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.