Bitis peringueyi

Peringuey's Adder ( Bitis peringueyi )

The Peringuey's Adder ( Bitis peringueyi, English Sidewinder Snake ) is a species of snake in the genus of puff adders ( Bitis Gray, 1842). She lives as the only Viper in the Namib Desert, which stretches from the coastal area of Namibia to southern Angola. With a body length of only up to about 30 centimeters, they heard next Schneiders Peringuey's Adder ( Bitis schneideri ) of the smallest species of the genus.

• 6.1 Documents cited
• 6.2 Literature

Features

The Peringuey's Adder reached an average length of 20-25 centimeters and a maximum body length of about 32 centimeters, where the females are longer and heavier than the males. This makes it the smallest species within the puff adders. The snake has a stocky body with a broad and rounded head and upturned eyes. The head is covered with small, strongly keeled scales, the eyes are separated by six to nine dandruff and each surrounded by ten to thirteen scales. The Under Eye Shields ( Subocularia ) are separate from the 10 to 14 upper lip shields ( Supralabiala ) by two to four rows of scales. In addition, the snake has 10 to 13 lower lip shields ( Sublabialia ), of which touch the first two to four the chin scales. The head is solid sand color and can little black specks or a triangular forehead patch have.

The coloration is gray-yellow to light reddish - brown with three longitudinal rows of blurry spots and irregularly distributed small dark spots. The belly is whitish to light from yellow and sometimes has reddish-brown or black spots. The tail is mostly sandy, about 25 percent of the animals, however, have a black tail tip. In the middle of the body, the snakes have 23 to 31 series hard gekielter shed, with only the bottom row with contact to the ventral scales is ungekielt and consists of very large scales. The snake has 117-144 ventral scales ( Ventralia ), which are followed by the undivided anal shield and the 15 to 30 lower tail scales ( Subcaudalia ). The males have 117-138 ventral scales and 22 to 30 under tail scales while females have 125 to 144 abdominal and only 15 to 25 under tail scales.

Distribution and habitat

The Peringuey's Adder lives in the Namib Desert and adjacent areas of southern Angola to the south of Namibia in Lüderitz and Rotkuppe. The first description of the species was performed on a specimen " of Damaraland, about 10 kilometers east of the Walvis Bay " ( terra typica ).

The Namib Desert is with their high daytime temperatures and temperature fluctuations between day and night, and especially the drought as a habitat one of the most extreme habitats of Africa represents the daytime temperatures can be well above 50 ° C, the night temperatures are below freezing. Through decades of droughts and frequent sandstorms plants and animals are exposed to extreme environmental conditions.

Way of life

How many desert dwellers this species is mostly crepuscular and nocturnal, where they can be found on foggy days especially near the coast during the day. During the day she is buried in the sand, preferably in a shady spot under tufts of marram grass ( Stipagrostis sabulicola ). Here, eyes, nose, mouth and tail sticking out of the sand. When approaching a potential prey animal, the tail tip is "insect -like" moves, especially individuals with a black tail tip to lure the animal to reach and grab.

The Peringuey's Adder dominates the crosswinds called to rapidly move across loose sand, making it recognizable as a true desert snake. This form is the preferred mode of locomotion of the snake is and is applied independently from the underground, crawling sees the Peringuey's Adder, however, only when climbing on low bushes or on rocks.

When threatened, this Viper hisses and bites too, with their bite humans but causes only local pain and swelling.

Nutrition

The food of Zwerpuffotter consists mainly of desert lizards of the genera Meroles and Aporosaurus and the sand geckos of the genus Ptenopus. Even small rodents, especially the two occurring in the Namib desert species Gerbillurus Tytonis and the diurnal Rhabdomys pumilio, suitable food in question.

A large part of the necessary liquid is taken with food, especially about Aporosaurus whose body up to 75 % of body weight stores water. Since precipitation in the form of rain in the Namib are extremely rare, the Peringuey's Adder for fluid intake can also take advantage of the dew by night it is flattened on the sand and the condensing on the rough surface of the body moisture licking. Due to the extreme efficiency of the kidneys, the water absorption is through the food but usually sufficient.

Reproduction and Development

Observations on the reproduction of Peringuey's Adder are very rare, so that the data are quite sparse. The species is ovoviviparous and brings in March or April about 10 to a maximum of ten 13 centimeters long and from 1.6 to 1.7 gram pups. These are wrapped in a thin egg membrane, from which they own free themselves with the help of jerky movements of the head.

Right after they have left the membranes, they are able to independently move around page writhing. Within the first hour of life, there is usually transmitted to the first molt. After a few days, the young snakes hunt independently of small lizards.

Taxonomy

The first description of Peringuey's Adder was made under the name Vipera peringueyi by the French naturalist George Albert Boulenger in 1888 on the basis of several snakes that were east of Walvis Bay, Namibia, collected in the field. By 1896, he ordered the snake Bitis peringueyi then as the puff adders ( Bitis ) to.

The Peringuey's Adder is one of 16 species within the puff adders. She is closest related to the horned puff adder (B. caudalis ), which also in desert areas of Africa, especially in the Kalahari and the South African semi-desert Karoo region, lives. The anatomical similarities between the two species were confirmed by investigations on a molecular level. Both together again represent the sister group of a taxon from Nagorno- puff adder (B. atropos ) and tufts Brow puff adder (B. cornuta ) dar. These and other small Puffotterarten be classified within the genus to a subgenus Calechidna that the large species such as the puff adder (B. arietans ) in the subgenus and the Gaboon Viper Bitis (B. gabonica ) and the rhinoceros viper (B. nasicornis ) in the subgenus Macrocerastes is compared.

Snake venom

Very little is known about the poison of Peringuey's Adder, as there has been no scientific analysis. It is considered to present a little danger and in the few cases where people have been bitten, it came exclusively to local pain and swelling. Specific Antivenine accordingly not exist, bites are treated with analgesics and antibiotics to prevent infection of the wound.

Documents

Cited evidence

The information in this article originate for the most part under the given work of literature from Mallow et al, moreover cited the following sources.: