Siamese Peninsula pit viper (Trimeresurus (Popeia) fucatus)

Bukit Fraser, Malaysia. 24 Dec 2016.

comments (10)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Well, that is just brilliant. Speechless. Posted 8 years ago
1. Thibaud Aronson
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks! Gotta love pit vipers! Posted 8 years ago
2. 1. Doris Charles
    
    Bullet Ant
    
    Yes from a distance Thibaud Posted 8 years ago
  2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
      
      Lion
      
      Ah well pit vipers are pretty relaxed in my experience. They rely on their camouflage, so by being careful not to bother them, I've been able to get quite close, take photos, and leave without them ever moving a muscle. Posted 8 years ago

John Sullivan

Lion

Beautiful photo! At Bukit Fraser, wouldn't that be Trimeresurus (Popei) fucatus or Trimeresurus (Popei) nebularis? I didn't think T. vogeli made it south into Malaysia. Posted 8 years ago
1. Thibaud Aronson
  
  Lion
  
  You're absolutely right! T. vogeli was the name I was given by the guy who showed it to me, and since it matched photos online, I didn't even think to check. From the red line, this must be T. fucatus then.
  Also, what's the deal, is Popeia the accepted genus name now (it seems to be on EOL at least)? I see Albert introduced one species under Popeia, but all others on JD are in Trimeresurus. Since this species doesn't have a wiki page, what name should I use to create the new record? Posted 8 years ago, modified 8 years ago
2. 1. WildFlower
    
    Lion
    
    I don't know what the experts think but EOL quotes the Catalogue of life and the Reptile DB and both sources currently accept the name Trimeresurus fucatus. The Catalogue of life also uses the data from the Reptile DB so that seems to be the main reference.
    http://eol.org/pages/789900/names
    http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/94525c08c8ef6dc8fea673b9cc530cad
    http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Trimeresurus&species=fucatus
    http://www.gbif.org/species/2444115
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimeresurus
    
    It would be good to have a consistent taxonomy at JD. Many genera are split like this and I have fixed a few but there are more of them. Posted 8 years ago, modified 8 years ago
  2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
      
      Lion
      
      Works for me! Posted 8 years ago
    2. John Sullivan
      
      Lion
      
      My understanding is that Trimeresurus is the longstanding name and Popeia is a recent subdivision that some authorities like and others don't. Sticking with Trimeresurus seems like a good plan. I'm glad you're keeping an eye on issues like this. Posted 8 years ago

Doris Charles

Bullet Ant

Siamese Pit Viper has a very long tail presuming its for holding on when stretching Thibaud great photo. Posted 8 years ago