Protobothrops mucrosquamatus (Cantor, 1839)

Pham, Anh Van, Ziegler, Thomas & Nguyen, Truong Quang, 2020, New records and an updated checklist of snakes from Son La Province, Vietnam, Biodiversity Data Journal 8, pp. 52779-52779 : 52779

Protobothrops mucrosquamatus (Cantor, 1839)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: TBU. SL.2016.423 ; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificNameID: Protobothropsmucrosquamatus; scientificName: Protobothropsmucrosquamatus; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Viperidae; genus: Protobothrops; specificEpithet: mucrosquamatus; scientificNameAuthorship: (Cantor, 1839); Location: country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Son La; county: Phu Yen; municipality: Muong Bang; locality: near Cai Village ; verbatimElevation: 450 m; verbatimLatitude: 21°08'49''N; verbatimLongitude: 104°44'48''E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS84; Event: eventDate: 26 October 2016; eventRemarks: collected by A.V. Pham and S.V. Cao; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Reptilia; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: TBU. PL.2016.67 ; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; Taxon: scientificNameID: Protobothropsmucrosquamatus; scientificName: Protobothropsmucrosquamatus; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Viperidae; genus: Protobothrops; specificEpithet: mucrosquamatus; scientificNameAuthorship: (Cantor, 1839); Location: country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Son La; county: Thuan Chau; municipality: Muong Bang; locality: near Pha Khuong Village ; verbatimElevation: 720 m; verbatimLatitude: 21°36'32''N; verbatimLongitude: 103°34'54''E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS84; Event: eventDate: 25 September 2016; eventRemarks: collected by A.V. Pham T.Q.L. Hoang, L.M. Ha, N.B. Song, D.K.K.S. Vanh, and C.A. Lau; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Reptilia; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Morphological characters of the voucher specimens from Son La agreed well with the descriptions of Stuart and Heatwole (2008), Nguyen et al. (2011), Luu et al. (2013), Nemes et al. (2013) and Nguyen et al. (2018): SVL 870 and 950 mm, TaL 220 and 235 mm (n = 2); head triangular, clearly distinct from the neck; nasal undivided; internasals separated from each other by three scales; singe loreal pit; two small scales between the nasal and the shield bordering the anterior region of the loreal pit; postoculars 2/2; supralabials 9-11/9-11, the third large, fourth and fifth separated from the subocular by two scales; temporals small; infralabials 12-13/13-14, the first pair in contact with each other, the first three pairs in contact with the chin shields; dorsal scale rows 27-25-19, rhomboid, strongly keeled throughout, but smooth on the first outer row; ventrals 212-217 (+2 preventrals); cloacal undivided; subcaudals 94 and 99, divided.

Colouration in life: dorsal head brown, paler below; dorsum greyish-brown, with a series of large brown, dark-edged spots; a dark brown line from the eye to the angle of the mouth, edged in black; ventral surface brownish with white blotches; dorsal tail light brown, with a series of conspicuous black spots (Fig. 6 ).

Distribution

In Vietnam, this species has been reported from Lao Cai and Ha Giang provinces in the north, southwards to Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces ( Nguyen et al. 2009, Nemes et al. 2013). Elsewhere, the species has been reported from India, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan and Myanmar ( Nguyen et al. 2009, Nemes et al. 2013).

Ecology

The voucher specimens were found between 19:00 and 22:30 h on forest paths. The surrounding habitat was secondary forest composed of medium and small hardwoods, lianes and shrub. Air temperature was 22-27°C and relative humidity was 75-85%.

Figures

Figure 6. Protobothrops mucrosquamatus (TBU PL. 2016. 67, adult male) from Son La Province, Vietnam. Photo: A. V. Pham