''Craspedocephalus gramineus'', known as the bamboo pit viper, Indian green pit viper, or common green pit viper, is a venomous

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 ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

found in the southern and north eastern parts of India. No

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are currently recognized.

Description

The

rostral scale The rostral scale, or rostral, in snakes and other scaled reptiles is the median plate on the tip of the snout that borders the mouth opening. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: ...

is as deep as broad or broader than deep. The upper head-scales are small, smooth, imbricate; supraocular scale narrow, rarely broken up. The internasals are contact or separated by one or two scales. There are 8 to 13 scales on a line between the supraoculars; usually one or two, rarely three, series of scales between the suboculars and the labials; 9 to 12 upper labials, second usually forming the anterior border of the loreal pit, third largest; temporal scales smooth. The dorsal scales are more or less distinctly keeled, in 21 (rarely 19 or 23) rows; ventrals 145–175; anal scale entire; subcaudals in two rows 53–76. The upper parts are usually bright green, rarely yellowish, greyish, or purplish brown, with or without black, brown, or reddish spots; usually a light, white, yellow, or red streak along the outer row of scales; end of tail frequently yellow or red; lower parts green, yellow, or whitish. It grows to a total length of . The tail is in length. Boulenger GA. 1890. ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia''. Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) London. xviii + 541 pp. (''Trimeresurus'', p. 425 & ''Trimeresurus gramineus'', pp. 429–430.)

Taxonomy and common names

It was first described in 1802 as '' Coluber graminaeus''. No

are recognized. Common names include: bamboo pit viper,Khaire, N. 2006. ''A Guide to the Snakes of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka''. Indian Herpetological Society. Pune, India. (Photographic guide with 61 species.) Smith MA. 1943. ''The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III. – Serpentes''. Secretary of State for India. (Taylor & Francis, Printers). London. xii + 583 pp., 166 figures. (''Trimeresurus gramineus'', pp. 515–517, Fig. 164.) Indian tree viper,Mehrtens JM. 1987. ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . bamboo snake, Indian green tree viper, green tree viper,U.S. Navy. 1991. ''Poisonous Snakes of the World''. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. . bamboo viper, Parker HW, Grandison AGC. 1977. ''Snakes – a natural history. Second Edition''. British Museum (Natural History) and Cornell University Press. 108 pp. 16 plates. LCCCN 76-54625. (cloth), (paper). bamboo pitviper,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''. GeitjeBooks Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. . ''boodro pam'', grass-green snake,Shaw. 1802. p. 420. and green pit viper.

Geographic range

The Bamboo Pit Viper is a widespread species throughout the peninsular India. It is also found albeit very scarcely in the eastern region of India spanning from Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. The type locality is " Vizagapatam, India", which is based on Russell (1796).

Habitat

Despite its name, the species is not particularly associated to Bamboo thickets. It is an arboreal snake, usually found on low to medium high bushes and trees, and often near

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s.Das, Indraneil. 2002. ''A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of India''. Ralph Curtis Books. Sanibel Island, Florida. 144 pp. . (''Trimeresurus gramineus'', p. 65.) Being a nocturnal creature, it is found at lower heights as it sits in ambush at night. During daytime, these snakes ascend at greater heights.

Behaviour

''C. gramineus'' is

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

and

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 ...

. When threatened, it is aggressive and does not hesitate to bite. The venom is hemotoxic and neurotoxic.

Diet

It feeds on

lizards Lizard is the common name used for all squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The ...

rats Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

, and

birds 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 ...

Reproduction

''C. gramineus'' is

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparity, oviparous and live-bearing viviparity, viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develo ...

. Adult females give birth to 6 to 11 young, which measure up to in length.