Hemipenial morphology of five Asian pitvipers, with a discussion on their taxonomy

Abstract

The hemipenial morphology of five Asian pitvipers, Protobothrops mucrosquamatus, Protobothrops jerdonii, Ovophis zayuensis, Ovophis monticola and Viridovipera yunnanensis, are described and illustrated. Of them, the hemipenes of the first three species have been briefly reported in Chinese Journal of Zoology in Chinese. The results reveal that five species are different in hemipenial structures. The differences between Ovophis zayuensis and Ovophis monticola, and between Viridovipera yunnanensis and Viridovipera stejnegeri, further confirm the validation of Ovophis zayuensis and Viridovipera yunnanensis respectively. © 2006 Brill Academic Publishers.