''Trimeresurus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

s native to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. They are found from the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

throughout

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and the

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

. The genus currently contains 44 recognized

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), ...

. Common names include Asian palm pit vipers, Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . Asian lanceheads, and green pit vipers.United States Navy (1991). ''Poisonous Snakes of the World''. New York: U.S. Government / Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. .

Description

Most species in the genus ''Trimeresurus'' are relatively small, primarily

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 ...

species, with thin bodies and

prehensile Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely derived from a number of different origin ...

tails. Most ''Trimeresurus'' species are typically green in color, but some species also have yellow, black, orange, red, or gold markings.

Feeding

The diet of ''Trimeresurus'' species includes a variety of animals, including

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, 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 Island#Oceanic isla ...

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

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 ...

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

s, and other small

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 ...

Reproduction

Like most viper species, many of the species in the genus ''Trimeresurus'' are

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 ...

, bearing live young. However, some species such as '' T. flavoviridis'', '' T. kaulbacki'', and '' T. macrolepis'' are

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 ...

, laying

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s. Also, the reproductive biology of some ''Trimeresurus'' species is as yet unknown.

Venom

''Trimeresurus''

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

varies in toxicity between species, but all are primarily

hemotoxic Haemotoxins, hemotoxins or hematotoxins are toxins that destroy red blood cells, disrupt blood clotting, and/or cause organ degeneration and generalized tissue damage. The term ''haemotoxin'' is to some degree a misnomer since toxins that damage ...

and considered to be medically significant to humans.

Geographic range

Species in the genus ''Trimeresurus'' are found in

from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

(including regions of the

North Chotanagpur division North Chotanagpur division is one of the five divisions of the Indian state of Jharkhand. The division comprises the following districts: Bokaro, Chatra, Dhanbad, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Koderma and Ramgarh. It was earlier part of the Chota Nagp ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

) to

Southern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...

and

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 ...

, and the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

Species

''*) Not including the

nominate subspecies In 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), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

.''
^T)

Type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

Taxonomy

Additional species that may be recognized by other sources include: * '' T. barati'' Regenass & Kramer, 1981. Commonly called Barat's bamboo viper, found in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. * '' T. fucatus'' Vogel,

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

& Pauwels, 2004. Commonly called the Siamese peninsula pit viper and found in southern

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. The genus ''Trimeresurus'' (''sensu lato'') has been the subject of considerable taxonomic work since 2000, resulting in the recognition of additional

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

within this complex. Most authors now recognise the genus ''

Protobothrops ''Protobothrops'' is a genus of pit vipers found in Asia.. The venom of ''Protobothrops'' can be diverse and unique across individual organisms of the same and differing species and has demonstrated the ability to evolve in an accelerated manner ...

'' for the species ''cornutus'', ''flavoviridis'', ''jerdonii'', ''kaulbacki'', ''mucrosquamatus'', ''tokarensis'', ''xiangchengensis'', Malhotra A, Thorpe RS (2004). "A phylogeny of four mitochondrial gene regions suggests a revised taxonomy for Asian pitvipers (''Trimeresurus'' and ''Ovophis'')". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 32: 83–100. Castoe TA, Parkinson CL (2006). "Bayesian mixed models and the phylogeny of pitvipers (Viperidae: Serpentes)". ''Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 39: 91–110. since these have been shown not to be closely related to other ''Trimeresurus'' in recent phylogenetic analyses. In addition, Malhotra and Thorpe (2004) proposed a radical shake up of the entire genus, splitting ''Trimeresurus'' into seven genera. Their proposed arrangement (including species described since 2004) is shown in the table below: This new arrangement has been followed by many, but not all subsequent authors.

et al. (2011) considered some of the genera of Malhotra & Thorpe to be

subgenera In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of the genus ''Trimeresurus'', creating new combinations such as ''"Trimeresurus (Parias) flavomaculatus"'', ''"Trimeresurus (Popeia) popeiorum"'', ''"Trimeresurus (Viridovipera) stejnegeri"'', etc.David, Patrick; Vogel, Gernot; Dubois, Alain (2011). "On the need to follow rigorously the Rules of the ''Code'' for the subsequent designation of a nucleospecies (type species) for a nominal genus which lacked one: the case of the nominal genus ''Trimeresurus'' Lacépède, 1804 (Reptilia: Squamata: Viperidae)". ''Zootaxa'' 2992: 1–51.

Gallery

Image:Trimeresurus vogeli, Vogel's Pit Viper (juvenile) - Khao Yai National Park 01.jpg, A juvenile ''T. vogeli'' in

Khao Yai National Park Khao Yai National Park is a List of national parks of Thailand, national park in Thailand. Established in 1962 as Thailand's first national park, it is the third largest national park in Thailand. Description Khao Yai National Park is in the ...

, Thailand Image:Trimeresurus fucatus, Banded pit viper.jpg, ''Trimeresurus fucatus'' from

Khao Sok National Park Khao Sok National Park (, ) is in Surat Thani Province, Thailand. Its area is 461,712 rai ~ , and it includes the Cheow Lan Lake contained by the Ratchaprapha Dam. The park is the largest area of virgin forest in southern Thailand and is a ...

, Thailand Image:Trimeresurus albolabris (adult, female).jpg, ''Trimeresurus albolabris'' from

Kaeng Krachan National Park Kaeng Krachan National Park (, , ) is the largest List of national parks of Thailand, national park of Thailand. It is on the border with Myanmar (Burma), contiguous with the Tanintharyi Nature Reserve. It is a popular park owing to its proximit ...

, Thailand Image:Trimeresurus gumprechti.jpg, ''Trimeresurus gumprechti'', Gumprecht's green pit viper, from

Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park (, ) is a national park located in the Loei Province, Loei and Phitsanulok Province, Phitsanulok Provinces of Thailand. The protected area is located in the forested mountains of the Luang Prabang Range close to the ...

, Thailand Image:Trimeresurus macrops, Large-eyed pit viper.jpg, ''Trimeresurus macrops'' from

, Thailand Image:Trimeresurus-popeorum-Pope's-pit-viper-(female)-Kaeng-Krachan-National-Park.jpg, ''Trimeresurus popeiorum'' from

, Thailand