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Protobothrops elegans

Protobothrops elegans
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Genus:	Protobothrops
Species:	P. elegans
Binomial name
Protobothrops elegans (Gray, 1849)
Synonyms
Craspedocephalus elegans Gray, 1849 Trimeresurus luteus Boettger, 1895 Lachesis luteus – Boulenger, 1896 Lachesis lutea – Boettger, 1898 Trimeresurus elegans – Stejneger, 1907 Trimeresurus mucrosq[uamatus]. elegans – Mell, 1929 Protobothrops elegans – Kraus, Mink & Brown, 1996[2]

Protobothrops elegans is a venomous pitviper species endemictoJapan in the southern Ryukyu Islands.^[1][3]Nosubspecies are currently recognized.^[3][4] Common names include: elegant pitviper,^[1][3][4][5] Sakishima habu (サキシマハブ),^[6] and elegant tree viper.^[7]

Scalation includes 25 (sometimes 23) rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 179–192 (males) or 182–196 (females) ventral scales, 63–90 subcaudal scales, and 8 (sometimes 7 or 9) supralabial scales.^[5]

During 1965–2011, 2447 snakebites from this snake are reported with one fatality.^[8]

It is found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands, specifically in the Yaeyama Islands.^[1] The type locality is unknown. Boulenger listed it as "---- ?" while Gray's original 1849 description gives "West Coast of [North?] America." A restriction to "Ishigaki-Shima [Ryukyu Islands, Japan]" was proposed by Stejneger (1907).^[2]

• Snakebite

• Gray, J.E. 1849. Catalogue of the Specimens of Snakes in the Collection of the British Museum. Trustees of the British Museum. London. xv + 125 pp. (Craspedocephalus elegans, p. 7.)

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