Wagler's Pit Viper

Tropidolaemus wagleri, more commonly known as Wagler's pit viper, is a species of venomous snake, a pit viper in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. The species is endemic to Southeast Asia. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid. It is sometimes referred to as the temple viper because of its abundance around the Temple of the Azure Cloud in Malaysia.

Etymology

The specific name, wagleri, is in honour of German herpetologist Johann Georg Wagler.

Description

The Wagler's pit viper is sexually dimorphic: the females grow to approximately 1 m (39+1⁄4 in) in total length (including tail), their bodies being black with yellow stripes. Males, on the other hand, typically do not exceed 75 cm (29+1⁄2 in). Males have large triangular-shaped heads, with relatively thin green bodies. They are almost entirely arboreal, and their tails are prehensile to aid in climbing.

They are found in a wide variety of colors and patterns, often referred to as "phases". In the past, some researchers classified the different phases as subspecies. The phases vary greatly from having a black or brown coloration as a base, with orange and yellow banding, to others having a light green as the base color, with yellow or orange banding, and many variations therein.

Common names

Common names for the Wagler's pit viper include temple viper, temple pit viper, bamboo snake, temple snake, speckled pit viper, and temple pitviper.

Geographic range

The Wagler's pit viper is found in southern Vietnam from the provinces of Minh Hai and Song Be, in southern Thailand recorded from the provinces of Phang Nga, Phuket, Pattani, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Tammarat, Narathiwat, and Yala, probably distributed throughout the Peninsula in west Malaysia, as well as the island of Penang, in Singapore and in Indonesia on Sumatra, the islands of the Riau Archipelago, Bangka, Billiton, Nias, the Mentawai Islands (Siberut), Natuna, and Karimata. In a revision by Vogel et al (2007), the Wagler's pit viper species complex was differentiated into several taxa, including the resurrection of T. subannulatus. The Western Philippine populations belong to T. subannulatus, but those from Mindanao include snakes assigned to both this species and T. philippensis. Tropidolaemus subannulatus has a wide distribution in Central Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines, the Wagler's Pit Viper is restricted to mainland Southeast Asia, down to Sumatra and Bangka, West Indonesia."

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of the Wagler's pit viper is the forest, at altitudes from sea level to 400 m (1,300 ft).

Behavior

Nocturnal and arboreal, the Wagler's pit viper appears quite sluggish, as it remains motionless for long periods of time waiting for prey to pass by. When prey does pass by, or if disturbed, it can strike quickly.

Feeding