Protobothrops
Genus of snakes
Protobothrops is a genus of pit vipers found in Asia. It is also known as the lance headed pit vipers.
The venom of Protobothrops can be diverse and unique across individual organisms of the same and differing species and has demonstrated the ability to evolve in an accelerated manner. One possible explanation for these traits is that the habitat in which Protobothrops reside contains a large variety of prey which may have prompted the diversification of the venom related genes.
01Species
| Image | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| Protobothrops cornutus (M.A. Smith, 1930) | Vietnam and Southern China. | |
| Protobothrops dabieshanensis Huang, T. Pan, Han, L. Zhang, Hou, Yu, Zheng & B. Zhang, 2012 | China | |
| Protobothrops elegans (Gray, 1849) | Ryukyu Islands, specifically the Yaeyama Islands. | |
| Protobothrops flavirostris Grassby-Lewis, Brakels, Maury, Sitthivong, Frohlich, Pawangkhanant, Idiiatullina, Nguyen & Poyarkov, 2025 | Vang Vieng District, Vientiane Province, Laos | |
| Protobothrops flavoviridis (Hallowell, 1861) | Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa and the Amami Islands. | |
| Protobothrops himalayanus H. Pan, Chettri, D. Yang, K. Jiang, K. Wang, L. Zhang & Vogel, 2013 | China (southern Tibet), Nepal, Bhutan, India (Sikkim) | |
| Protobothrops jerdonii (Günther, 1875) | India, Nepal, Myanmar, China, and Vietnam. | |
| Protobothrops kaulbacki (M.A. Smith, 1940) | Myanmar, China | |
| Protobothrops kelomohy Sumontha, Vasaruchapong, Chomngam, Suntrarachun, Pawangkhanant, Sompan, Smit, Kunya & Chanhome, 2020 | Northern Thailand | |
| Protobothrops mangshanensis (Zhao, 1990) | China (Guangdong, Hunan) | |
| Protobothrops maolanensis J. Yang, Orlov & Y. Wang, 2011 | China (Guizhou) | |
| Protobothrops mucrosquamatus (Cantor, 1839) | India (Assam and Mizoram) and Bangladesh, to Myanmar, China (including Hainan, and as far north as Gansu and as far east as Zhejiang), Laos, northern and central Vietnam, also found in northern Thailand as well as in Taiwan | |
| Protobothrops sieversorum (Ziegler, Herrmann, David, Orlov & Pauwels, 2000) | Vietnam | |
| Protobothrops tokarensis (Nagai, 1928) | Kagoshima, Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands | |
| Protobothrops trungkhanhensis Orlov, Ryabov & Nguyen, 2009 | Vietnam, China | |
| Protobothrops xiangchengensis (Zhao, Y. Jiang & Huang, 1979) | China (Yunnan, Sichuan) |
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Protobothrops.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Protobothrops”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Protobothrops cornutus.jpg by TimVickers, Public domain
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