Siamese peninsula pit viper

Appearance

A species of the genus Trimeresurus, characterized by (1) hemipenes long, reaching at least 25 th SC, without spines; (2) 1 st supralabial distinct from nasal; (3) 21 MSR (20 in 1 specimen); (4) overall green coloration in males and females; (5) irregular rusty or reddish-brown dorsal crossbands in most males; (6) a vertebral row of white dots in males, especially those from southern Thailand and Pulau Tioman, conspicuous in life (often invisible in preserved specimens or in living old specimens), present also in females, especially in juvenile specimens from same areas; (7) in males, a postocular streak usually thin, irregular, either entirely white or white below with an irregular, dark red or rusty brown streak above, sometimes totally absent (this streak is often much sub-dued and invisible in preservative); this streak is absent in females, but some white spots may be present; (8) eyes yellowish-green, greenish-gold or yellow-copper in both sexes in adult specimens; (9) in males, a vivid, bicolor ventrolateral stripe, bright and deep orange or red below, white above; in females, a thin, white but well defined stripe; (10) a tail entirely rusty brown or reddish-brown in the northern part of the range, mottled in the southern part; (11) a long tail in males, with a ratio TaL/TL between 0.200 and more than 0.240; (12) a high number of SC in males (at least 69); (13) occipital and temporal scales distinctly keeled; (14) an elongated snout, oblically truncated (from VOGEL et al. 2004).

Naming

Named after the Latin adjective fucatus, that could be translated by “with make-up”. It was used in classical Latin language to describe the red and white hues harboured on their cheeks by actors of the ancient Latin theater, and was chosen here in allusion to the bicolor white and red postocular streak present in some males of this species.

Distribution

S Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia