The Okinawa habuU.S. Navy (1991). ''Poisonous Snakes of the World''. New York: US Government / Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. . (''Protobothrops flavoviridis'') is a species of

pit viper The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers,Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . or pit adders, are a subfamily (biology), subfamily of Viperidae, vipers found in Asia and the ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. No subspecies are currently recognized. Local common names include habu Gumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL,

Captain A Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, Ryabov S (2004). ''Asian Pitvipers''. 1st Edition. Berlin: GeitjeBooks. 368 pp. . and Kume Shima habu. Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . The term "habu" in

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...

can also refer to the Sakishima habu (''Protobothrops elegans'') or elegant pit viper.

Description

Growing to an average total length of , with a maximum of , this is the largest member of its genus. It is slenderly built and gracefully proportioned with a large head. The crown of the head is covered with small scales. ''P. flavoviridis'' has a light olive or brown ground color, overlaid with elongated dark green or brownish blotches. The blotches have yellow edges, sometimes contain yellow spots, and frequently fuse to produce wavy stripes. The belly is whitish with dark coloring along the edges.

Distribution and habitat

The Okinawa habu is restricted to the Japanese

, including

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

and the

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is a Japanese archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is sout ...

. The type locality is "Amakarima Island (one of the Loo-Choo group)" (= Keramashima, Ryukyu Islands). It is common on the larger

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

islands, but not present on the smaller

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

islands. The species is often reported from the transition zone between

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

and cultivated fields. It may also be found on rock walls and in old tombs and caves.

Ecology

The species is

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

and mostly

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

. It often enters homes and other structures in search of rats and mice. Bold and irritable, it can strike quickly and has a long reach. Unlike most

pit vipers The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers,Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . or pit adders, are a subfamily of vipers found in Asia and the Americas. Like all other vipers, ...

, the habu is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

and lays eggs, rather than bearing live young. Mating takes place in early spring and up to 18 eggs are laid in mid-summer. The hatchlings, which emerge after an incubation period of 5–6 weeks, are in length and look the same as the adults. To reduce the population of ''P. flavoviridis'' on the island of Okinawa, the

small Indian mongoose The small Indian mongoose (''Urva auropunctata'') is a mongoose species native to Iraq and northern India; it has also been introduced to several Caribbean and Pacific islands. Taxonomy ''Mangusta auropunctata'' was the scientific name proposed ...

(''Herpestes javanicus''), was introduced in 1910. Although the effects of this introduction have not been studied, in other such cases, the negative effects on species of native

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, and herpetofauna have been a source of concern for wildlife managers.

Venom

The incidence of snakebite in the

is two per 1,000 people, which is considered very high. The venom of this species is of high toxicity, containing cytotoxin and hemorrhagin components, yet the fatality rate is less than 1%. A bite from a habu snake can cause nausea, vomiting, hypotension, and possibly death. In some cases, victims reported the loss of motor function in hands and legs following treatment."An experimental study of emergency care for habu bites : estimation of amount of venom removed by suction". Ryukyu Medical Association. 5 (3): 196–200. 1982. If a bite victim receives medical care promptly, bites are not life-threatening. However, 6–8% do suffer permanent disability. values of 3.1, 4.3, 3.7, 2.7, 3.7, and 3.8 mg/kg

intravenous Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutr ...

, 5.1 mg/kg

intraperitoneal The peritoneum is the serous membrane forming the lining of the abdominal cavity or coelom in amniotes and some invertebrates, such as annelids. It covers most of the intra-abdominal (or coelomic) organs, and is composed of a layer of mesothe ...

, and 6.0, 3.5-5.0, and 4.5 mg/kg subcutaneous administrations have been reported for the venom.

Use by humans

On the island of Okinawa, this species is heavily collected, primarily for use in '' habushu'' (ハブ酒). In this case, the'' sake ''is a

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

called '' awamori'' (泡盛), alleged to have medicinal properties. As is typical with snake wine, the snakes may be inserted into the container while still alive, causing them to drown, or the snake may be stunned first and gutted while still alive. The production includes the body in the fermentation process, and it is sold in bottles that may or may not retain the body of a snake (or other animals such as lizards or scorpions).

References

External links

* {{Authority control flavoviridis Snakes of Asia Endemic reptiles of Japan Reptiles described in 1861 Taxa named by Edward Hallowell (herpetologist) Endemic fauna of the Ryukyu Islands