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. halys^T	(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).

External links

• Gloydius at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 12 December 2007.
• Taxonomy comparison by Dr. Wolfgang Wüster at Dr. Brian Grieg Fry's Int'l Venom & Toxin Database. Accessed 25 July 2007.