Common names: Great Lakes bush viper, Nitsche's bush viper,Spawls S, Branch B (1995). The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Dubai: Oriental Press / Ralph Curtis Books. 192 pp. .Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G (2003). True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. 359 pp. . more.
Atheris nitschei is a species of venomous snake, a viper in the subfamily Viperinae of the family Viperidae. The species is native to Africa. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.
Taxonomy The former subspecies Atheris nitschei rungweensis from southwestern Tanzania, northeastern Zambia and northern Malawi was elevated to species rank as Atheris rungweensis.
Etymology The specific name, nitschei, is in honor of German zoologist Hinrich Nitsche (1845–1902).Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 312 pp. . (Atheris nitschei, p. 191; A. woosnami, p. 289).
The 1906 junior synonym, A. woosnami, was in honor of Kenyan game ranger Richard Bowen Woosnam (1880–1915), who later fought in World War I and was killed in action at Gallipoli.
Description
Atheris nitschei is a relatively large and stout bush viper, growing to an average total length (tail included) of and a maximum total length of at least . The males are smaller than the females.
Common names Common names for Atheris nitschei include Great Lakes bush viper, Nitsche's bush viper, black and green bush viper, Nitsche's tree viper.Mehrtens JM (1987). Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . sedge viper, green viper, bush viper.Brown JH (1973). Toxicology and Pharmacology of Venoms from Poisonous Snakes. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 184 pp. LCCCN 73-229. .
Geographic distribution Atheris nitschei is found in forests of the Central African Albertine Rift, in southern and eastern DR Congo, Uganda, western Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and Zambia.
The type locality is listed as "Mpororosumpf, Deutsch-Ost-Afrika" [Mpororo swamp, Tanzania-Rwanda border].
Habitat Preferred natural habitats of Atheris nitschei are wetland and meadow areas, and elephant grass marshes, along small streams, sometimes in scrub and bush in valleys at higher elevations, and in mountain forests up to the bamboo zone at altitude. It is common in papyrus reed around small lakes.
Venom Atheris nitschei has highly toxic venom like other species in the genus Atheris. Not much is known about its venom but envenomation has caused severe bleeding and hemorrhaging.
Reproduction Atheris nitschei is viviparous.
References
Further reading Broadley DG (1998). "A review of the genus Atheris Cope (Serpentes: Viperidae), with the description of a new species from Uganda". Herpetological Journal 8 (3): 117–135. (Atheris nitschei, pp. 121–122, Figure 2). Spawls S, Howell K, Hinkel H, Menegon M (2018). Field Guide to East African Reptiles, Second Edition. London: Bloomsbury Natural History. 624 pp. . (Atheris nitschei, p. 591). Tornier G (1902). "Herpetologisch Neues aus Deutsch-Ost-Afrika ". Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abtheilung für Systemaik, Geographie und Biologie der Thiere (Jena) 15: 578–590. (Atheris nitschei, new species, pp. 589–590). (in German).
External links
Accessed 29 October 2006.