Post by Ceratodromeus on Mar 29, 2016 12:43:00 GMT 5
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Viperinae
Genus: Bitis
Subgenus: Macrocerastes
Species: B.harrena
Description
This is an exceedingly poorly known species, only known from the holotype animal collected in the year 1960(an adult female; catalogue number ZMUC R68255) -- and only recently achieving full species status after another individual was photographed in the wild, and rigorous morphometric analysis distinguished it from the Ethiopian mountain adder(B.parviocula),The holotype animal is fairly standard body plan wise as far as vipers of the genus go. It is extremely heavily bodied with a triangular head, and this species possesses a unique body patterning of lightly colored interlocking ovals running its entire length, on a darkly pigmented background. The belly is a creamy white in coloration and in the holotype animal, orange speckling is present. This female measured 66.5cm(26.1in) in total body, with a tail measuring 40mm(1.5in) tail{1}.
The referred live animal was observed briefly and photographed, but not collected.
{1} A New Large Species of Bitis Gray, 1842 (Serpentes: Viperidae) from the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia
Abstract
A new species of viperine viperid snake is described, Bitis harenna sp. nov. The new species is a member of the subgenus
Macrocerastes based on it having three scales separating the nasal and rostral shields, and on the combination of ‘divisions’
of dorsal scale rows on the upper flanks and ‘fusions’ of rows on the lower flanks. Bitis harenna sp. nov. is distinguished
from other members of the subgenus by its unique colour pattern, posterior parietal flange on the lateral wall of
the braincase, and possibly by differences in scalation and head proportions. Only a single museum specimen is known, a
female collected from ‘Dodola’ in Ethiopia probably in the late 1960s and previously identified as a possibly unusually
coloured and patterned B. parviocula. A live, presumably male, specimen very closely resembling the holotype of Bitis
harenna sp. nov. was photographed on the Harenna escarpment of the Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia in 2013,
providing secure occurrence data and evidence that the holotype is not a uniquely aberrant specimen. A revised key to the
species of Bitis in Ethiopia is presented. Aspects of body scalation are compared among species of the subgenus Macrocerastes
and between species of Macrocerastes and Bitis, and several systematic characters are highlighted and clarified
maddreptiles.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Gower_etal_2016_Bitis_harenna.pdf
