Vipera barani

Baran's viper (Vipera barani ) is a type of the Real vipers (Vipera ) within the vipers ( Viperidae ), which have long been scientifically proven by only a single individual. The habitat of the snake is located north of the city of Adapazari in the Turkish Black Sea coast. The species is named after the Turkish herpetologists Ibrahim Baran ( born 1940 ).

Features

Originally only copy of Baran's Viper had a length of 54 cm. This is a completely black animal ( melanism ), the upper lip shields wore conspicuous white spots. The underside of the tail is lemon yellow.

The head is clearly separated from the rest of the body. The eyes have vertical slit pupils. Compared to other species, the snout is pushed out edges. Except for the eye shields all shields top of the head are dissolved into small scales. The nasals is almost as large as the eye, and is home to the nostril in the middle. Below the eyes are two rows of Under Eye shields ( Supraocularia ), including upper lip are 10 shields ( supralabials ). The body scales are keeled. Around the middle of the body are usually 21 to 23 scale rows. The under tail- shields ( Subcaudalia ) are divided as in all species of the genus.

Distribution and habitat

The site of the first Serpent described is located north of the city of Adapazari in the Turkish Black Sea coast. It is hilly country in about 400 meters. 2003 females in the province of Sakarya was caught in altitude of 1,100 meters.

2001 of this type were specimens that failed as a Pontic vipers (Vipera pontica ) were excellent, slammed.

Way of life

Over the life of this snake, of the very few copies are known, very little is known. Baran et al. 2005 report from a female caught alive, the two juveniles weighing 6.03 and 7.05 grams brought birth weight in the terrarium; However, all three specimens died a few days after birth without food. Correspondingly, to date no live observations from the field and only very few observations from this brief captivity.

Snake venom

About the specific composition and effect of the poison of the snake is not known. As all the species Vipera it will probably mainly be hemotoxic. A captive individual killed a house mouse (Mus musculus) in the terrarium through a bite.

Threat and protection

About the population size and the exact distribution area of Baran's Viper has no information. The species is (Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and animals and their habitats ) strictly protected under the Berne Convention and added to the Annex II. In the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN) Baran's Viper is run as a kind of early warning.