Gloydius

Gloydius is a genus of venomous pitvipers endemic to Asia, also known as Asian moccasins or Asian ground pit vipers. Named after American herpetologist Howard K. Gloyd,[2] this genus is very similar to the North American genus Agkistrodon. 22 species are currently recognized.[3]

Gloydius
Gloydius blomhoffii, Japanese mamushi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae
Genus: Gloydius
Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981
Synonyms[1]
  • Trigonocephalus
    — Kuhl & van Hasselt, 1822
  • Halys
    — Gray, 1849
  • Ancistrodon
    — Boulenger, 1896
  • Agkistrodon
    — Stejneger, 1907
  • Gloydius
    Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1981
  • Gloydins [sic]
    Hoge & Romano-Hoge, 1983
    (ex errore)

Geographic range

Species of Gloydius are found in Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, Himalayas from Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Korea, Japan and the Ryukyu Islands.[1]

Species
Species[3] Taxon author[3] Subsp.*[3] Common name[4] Geographic range[1]
G. angusticeps Shi, Yang, Huang Orlov, & Li, 2018 0 Zoige pit viper China, (Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu).
G. blomhoffii (Stejneger, 1907) 3 Japanese mamushi China, Korea and Japan.
G. brevicaudus (H. Boie, 1826) 0 Short-tailed mamushi North Korea, South Korea, and China.
G. caraganus (Eichwald, 1831) 0 Karaganda pitviper Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
G. caucasicus (Nikolsky, 1916) 0 Caucasian pitviper Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Afghanistan.
G. cognatus (Gloyd, 1977) 0 Alashan pitviper China.
G. halysT (Pallas, 1776) 4 Siberian pitviper Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, Mongolia to northern and central China, as well as the southern Ryukyu Islands.
G. himalayanus (Günther, 1864) 0 Himalayan pitviper Along the southern slopes of the Himalayas from northeastern Pakistan, to northern India (Kashmir, Punjab) and Nepal. Found at 1524–3048 m altitude.
G. huangi Wang, Ren, Dong, Jiang, Shi, Siler, & Che, 2019 0 Lancang Plateau viper Tibet.
G. intermedius (Strauch, 1868) 2 Central Asian pitviper Southeastern Azerbaijan, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, northwestern Afghanistan, southern Russia, northwestern China and Mongolia.
G. lijianlii Jiang & Zhao, 2009 0 North coast Shandong peninsula in China.
G. liupanensis Liu, Song, & Luo, 1989 0 Gansu, China.
G. monticola (F. Werner, 1922) 0 Likiang pitviper The mountains of northern Yunnan in China.
G. qinlingensis Song & Chen, 1985 0 Shaanxi, China.
G. rickmersi Wagner, Tiutenko, Borkin, & Simonov, 2015 Kyrgyzstan
G. rubromaculatus Shi, Wang, Chen, Fang, Ding, Huang, Hou, Liu, & Li, 2017 0 Tibetan Plateau.
G. saxatilis (Emelianov, 1937) 0 Rock mamushi[5] Russia (eastern Siberia), northeastern China and North and South Korea.
G. shedaoensis (Zhao, 1979) 0 Shedao island pitviper Shedao Island, off the coast of Liaotung, China.
G. stejnegeri (Rendahl, 1933) 0 Gobi pitviper China and Mongolia.
G. strauchi (Bedriaga, 1912) 0 Strauch's pitviper The Tibetan Plateau in the provinces of Tsinghai and western Szechwan, China.
G. tsushimaensis (Isogawa, Moriya & Mitsui, 1994) 0 Tsushima Island pitviper Tsushima Island, Japan.
G. ussuriensis (Emelianov, 1929) 0 Ussuri mamushi Far east Russia (Primorskiy Kray), northeastern China, North and South Korea, as well as Quelpart Island.

*) Not including the nominate subspecies.
T) Type species.

Taxonomy

Due to the strong morphological similarity, these snakes were classified in the genus Agkistrodon until very recently. However, by 1999 cladistic studies clearly showed that Agkistrodon did not form a clade (indeed, it was not even paraphyletic) and was thus split into several genera.

A new species, G. tsushimaensis, was described by Isogawa, Moriya & Mitsui (1994). It is referred to as the Tsushima island pitviper and is found only on Tsushima Island, Japan.

References
  1. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Gloydius, p. 102).
  3. "Gloydius ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 17 October 2006.
  4. Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S (2004). Asian Pitvipers. First Edition. Berlin: Geitje Books. 368 pp. ISBN 3-937975-00-4.
  5. Gloyd HK, Conant R (1990). Snakes of the Agkistrodon Complex: A Monographic Review. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 614 pp., 52 plates. LCCN 89-50342. ISBN 0-916984-20-6.

Further reading
  • Hoge AR, Romano-Hoge SA (1981). "Poisonous Snakes of the World. I. Checklist of the Pitvipers: Viperoidea, Viperidae, Crotalinae". Memórias do Instituto Butantan 42/43: 179-309. (Gloydius, new genus).
  • Isogawa, Kiyoshi; Moriya, Akira; Mitsui, Sadaaki (1994). "A new snake from the genus Agkistrodon (Serpentes: Viperidae) from Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture". Japanese J. Herpetol. 15: 101-111. (Agkistrodon tsushimaensis, new species).
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