Common Sand Viper (Phoenix Zoo - Arizona Trail)

Common Sand Viper

Cerastes vipera

Summary ⁶

Cerastes vipera is a venomous viper species endemic to the deserts of North Africa and the Sinai Peninsula. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Description ⁷

A medium-sized snake, with a short, stocky body. Largest Egyptian specimen has a total length of 490 mm. Tail short, tail / total length = 0.07-0.14. Nostril slit-like; 11-13 supralabials; eye moderate, separated from supralabials by 3-4 scales, pupil vertical; scales on dorsal side of head large, imbricate, 8-13 interorbitals; no supraocular horn; dorsals strongly keeled, 23-29 scale rows around mid-body; 102-120 ventrals, 18-26 paired subcaudals; anal entire. Dorsum sandy beige, with a pattern of small round spots in alternating rows along the back. Tail color and length is sexually dimorphic; females have shorter black tails, while males have longer tails the same coloration as the dorsum. Venter plain white.

Range description ⁸

This species is distributed from Mauritania, Western Sahara and southern Morocco, east through northern Africa to southwestern Israel. In northwest Africa records also exist for northern Mali, Algeria, Libya and Niger (Trape and ManÃ© 2006). It is a lowland species ranging from sea level up to around 1,000 m above sea level.

Iucn red list assessment ⁹

Red List Category

Least Concern

Red List Criteria

Version

3.1

Year Assessed

2013

Assessor/s

Wilms, T., Wagner, P., Joger, U., Geniez, P., Crochet, P.-A., El Mouden, E.H. & Mateo, J.A.

Reviewer/s

Penner, J. & Bowles, P.

Contributor/s

Baha El Din, S., Nouira, M.S., De Silva, R., Milligan, H.T., Wearn, O.R., Wren, S., Zamin, T., Sears, J., Wilson, P., Lewis, S., Lintott, P. & Powney, G.

Justification

Cerastes vipera is listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distributed, reported local abundance, and because it is unlikely to be undergoing any significant declines to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

History

2010

Least Concern

Fuentes y créditos

(c) Gabriel Martínez del Marmol Marín, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.moroccoherps.com/files/gallery/Cerastes_vipera/fotografia/1.jpg
(c) Gabriel Martínez del Marmol Marín, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.moroccoherps.com/files/gallery/Cerastes_vipera/fotografia/2.jpg
(c) Gabriel Martínez del Marmol Marín, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.moroccoherps.com/files/gallery/Cerastes_vipera/fotografia/3.jpg
(c) Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.moroccoherps.com/files/gallery/Cerastes_vipera/fotografia/6.jpg
(c) Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.moroccoherps.com/files/gallery/Cerastes_vipera/fotografia/7.jpg
(c) Wikipedia, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerastes_vipera
(c) Bibliotheca Alexandrina, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/15643939
(c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28046643
(c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28046642

Más información

Range Map

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