The pitviper is green in coloration and sports a whitish belly and a white stripe that appears along the last row of scales before the belly.
Researchers Gernot Vogel (University of Heidelberg), Tan Van Nguyen (Duy Tan University, Vietnam) and Patrick David (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle) have discovered and described a new green pit viper species of the Trimeresurus albolabris complex of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804. The venomous snake hails from central and southern Myanmar (formerly Burma) and is described as a new species based on “molecular analysis from previously published phylogenies and new morphological data,” the researchers wrote in an abstract describing the new species.
Trimeresurus uetzi sp. nov. in preservative, specimen CAS 243024, Holotype, male. A. General dorsal view. – B. General ventral view. – C. Lateral view of the head, right side. – D. Lateral view of the head, left side. – E. Dorsal view of the head. – F. Ventral view of the head. – G. Ventral view of the tail with the everted hemipenes. – H. Dorsal view of the base of the tail. Photos by G. Vogel.
Trimeresurus uetzi sp. nov. shares some similarities with Trimeresurus albolabris and T. septentrionalis. It differs from these two venomous snakes in that the males possess white pre- and post ocular streaks, copper colored irises in the male and green gold irises in the female. Both sexes also feature more ventral plates, and in the case of the males, a shorter hemipenis than that of both Trimeresurus albolabris and T. septentrionalis.
Lateral view of the head, right & left side, respectively of the Trimeresurus uetzi sp. nov. in preservative: A. Specimen CAS 232480 (paratype, male); B. Specimen CAS 243055 (paratype, male); C. Specimen CAS 242723 (male); D. Specimen CAS 210109 (paratype, female); E. Specimen CAS 215472 (paratype, female); F. Specimen CAS 215540 (paratype, female). Photos by G. Vogel.
The pitviper is green in coloration and sports a whitish belly and a white stripe that appears along the last row of scales before the belly. Males have copper colored irises and females have green and gold irises.
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An abstract of the paper, “A new green pitviper of the Trimeresurus albolabris complex (Reptilia, Serpentes, Viperidae) from central and southern Myanmar” can be read on the Zootaxa website.
