Zara's Hump-nosed Viper

Hypnale zara

''Hypnale zara'' is a venomous pitviper species endemic to Sri Lanka. It is distinguished from ''Hypnale nepa'' by variably colored body and less upcurved snout. No subspecies are currently recognized.
A baby Zara's Hump-nosed Viper coiled on a rainforest leaf Like the other Hypnale species, Hypnale zara spends most of its time in the leaf litter, but will sometimes climb a meter or so off the ground. That's about how high this tiny one was. Geotagged,Hypnale zara,Sri Lanka,Summer

Appearance

''Hypnale zara'' has 10-19 minute scales from wart-like protuberance on the snout tip. 18-39 heterogeneous small scales on inter nasal to prefromtal region can be seen, along with six scales around the eye, and seven to eight. supralabials. Costal scales are keeled. Ventrals are 134-157 in number. Subcaudals may be 34-51.

Dorsum color ranges from yellowish brown to dark brown, sometimes deep red. Two rows of distinct sub-oval or sub-triangular blotches meet on vertebral region. There is a dark stripe across eye and cheek. Venter is lighter than dorsum, sometimes light ash-gray.

Distribution

''Hypnale zara'' is restricted to the lowland rain forests of the southwestern wet zone up to foot hills of the central highlands.

Habitat

''Hypnale zara'' is nocturnal,

Reproduction

''Hypnale zara'' is ovoviviparous.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyViperidae
GenusHypnale
SpeciesH. zara
Photographed in
Sri Lanka