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Vipera aspis zinnikeri

Subspecies of snake

Vipera aspis zinnikeri
Summary

Subspecies of snake

Kramer, 1958

  • Vipera (Rhinaspis) aspis zinnikeri — Obst, 1983

:Common names: Gascony asp, Gascony viper, Gascony asp viper.

Vipera aspis zinnikeri is a venomous viper subspecies endemic to the Pyrenees region of Spain and France.

Etymology

It was named after "Walter Zinniker", a Swiss herpetologist.

Description

Vipera aspis zinnikeri is relatively small in size, with a maximum total length (body + tail) of 65 cm. Also, the head is long and narrow compared to other subspecies of this species. The total number of ventrals plus subcaudals is 175-187 in males and 170-183 in females.

The color pattern is much like that of Vipera berus. The dorsal pattern is fused into a broad, wavy or zigzag dark stripe that contains a straight-edged, pale stripe about three scales wide. This pattern stands out clearly against the ground color, which is particularly light along the edges of the dorsal pattern. Series of dark vertical bars or extended ovals run along the flanks, opposing the indentations of the dorsal pattern.

The aforementioned middorsal stripe may be pale beige or grey. The ground color of some specimens may approach clear orange.

Geographic range

This race is found in the Pyrenees region of northeastern Spain and southwestern France. Steward (1971) states that they occur in the Department of Gers in Gascony, southwestern France. Street (1979) describes its range as "Gascony, Andorra and a nearby Spanish locality."

References

References

  1. McDiarmid RW, [[Jonathan A. Campbell. Campbell JA]], Touré T. 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. Mehrtens JM. 1987. ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. {{ISBN. 0-8069-6460-X.
  3. Steward JW. 1971. ''The Snakes of Europe''. Cranbury, New Jersey: Associated University Press (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press). 238 pp. LCCCN 77-163307. {{ISBN. 0-8386-1023-4.
  4. {{ITIS
  5. {{NRDB species. (13 December). (2007)
  6. Street D. 1979. ''The Reptiles of Northern and Central Europe''. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. 268 pp. {{ISBN. 0-7134-1374-3.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

vipera reptiles-described-in-1958
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