Daboia siamensis

Daboia siamensis (Common name: eastern Russell's viper,[4] Siamese Russell's viper,[5] more) is a venomous viper species, which is endemic to parts of Southeast Asia, southern China and Taiwan.[2][3] It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of Daboia russelii (as Daboia russelli siamensis), but was elevated to species status in 2007.[2]

Daboia siamensis
Specimen from Thailand
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Genus:	Daboia
Species:	D. siamensis
Binomial name
Daboia siamensis (M.A. Smith, 1917)[2]
Synonyms[3]
Vipera siamensis M.A. Smith, 1917 Coluber russelli siamensis — Ōshima, 1920 Vipera russelli limitis Mertens, 1927 Vipera russelli formosensis — Maki, 1931 Vipera russelii sublimitis Kopstein, 1936 Vipera russelii formosensis — Klemmer, 1963 Vipera russelii limitis — Klemmer, 1963 Vipera russelii siamensis — Klemmer, 1963 Viper russelli siamensis — Sakuragawa, 1979 Daboia (Daboia) russelli limitis — Obst, 1983 Daboia (Daboia) russelli siamensis — Obst, 1983 Vipera russelli siamensis — Nakada, Nakada, Ito & Inoue, 1984 Vipera russelli burmanus Muang Muang Aye In Gopalakrishnakone & Tan, 1987 Daboia russelli siamensis — Golay et al., 1993

Description

Dorsally, the color pattern is the same as that of D. russelii, except that the color is more grayish or olive, with small spots between the large spot rows. The venter is suffused with gray posteriorly.[6]

Common names

Common names for D. siamensis include eastern Russell's viper and[4] Siamese Russell's viper.

Previously, other common names were used to describe subspecies that are now part of the synonymy of this species: Indonesian Russell's viper for "limitis", and Formosan Russell's viper for "formosensis".[5]

Geographic range

Daboia siamensis is found in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, China (Guangxi, Guangdong), Taiwan and Indonesia (Endeh, Flores, east Java, Komodo, Lomblen Islands).[3]

Brown (1973) mentions that D. siamensis can also found in Vietnam, Laos and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.[7] Ditmars (1937) reportedly received a specimen from Sumatra as well.[8] However, its distribution in the Indonesian archipelago is still being elucidated.[9]

Venom

A monovalent antivenin, called "Russell's Viper Antivenin", is made in Thailand by the Thai Red Cross to counteract the venom of this species.[4]

• 
  Daboia siamensis in its habitat, from Thailand

References

1. Wogan G (2012). "Daboia siamensis ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2012: e.T201501A2707729. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T201501A2707729.en. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
2. Daboia siamensis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 16 February 2015.
3. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. ISBN 1-893777-00-6.
4. Daboia russelii siamensis at Munich AntiVenom INdex (MAVIN). Accessed 23 October 2006.
5. Mehrtens JM (1987). Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
6. Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G (2003). True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. ISBN 0-89464-877-2.
7. Brown JH (1973). Toxicology and Pharmacology of Venoms from Poisonous Snakes. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 184 pp. LCCCN 73-229. ISBN 0-398-02808-7.
8. Ditmars RL (1933). Reptiles of the World. Revised Edition. New York: The MacMillan Company. 329 pp. + 89 plates.
9. Belt P, Warrell DA, Malhotra A, Wüster W, Thorpe RS (1997). "Russell's viper in Indonesia: snakebite and systematics". pp. 219-230. In: Thorpe RS, Wüster W, Malhotra A (Editors) (1997). Venomous Snakes: Ecology, Evolution and Snakebite. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, No. 70. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 296 pp. ISBN 978-0198549864.

Further reading

• Smith MA (1917). "Descriptions of New Reptiles and a New Batrachian from Siam". Journal of the Natural History Society of Siam 2 (3): 221-225. (Vipera russelli siamensis, new subspecies, pp. 223–224 + photograph).
• Smith MA (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Batrachia, Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. ("Vipera russelli siamensis", p. 484).

External links

• Daboia russelii at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 2 August 2007.
• Russell's Viper (on the island of Komodo) at Globaljuggler. Accessed 20 October 2006.
• Daboia siamensis - Siamese Russells Viper in Thailand Information