Understanding Gaboon Adder Scientific Names

[ghoti]

Heya,

Im looking to fact check something I am writing and I would just like to confirm the following scientific names (as I realize they change from time to time).

Its it safe to say the following?:

West African Gaboon Adder - Bitis gabonica rhinoceros
East African Gaboon Adder - Bitis gabonica gabonica (or is it Bitis Gabonica)

Im trying to understand the different scientific names to these two awesome species.

[Westley Price]

The way you have is was correct a few years ago, but recent studies have showed that these are in fact separate species, so now they are:

West African Gaboon: B. rhinocerus
East African Gaboon: B. gabonica

From time to time subspecies get elevated to full species status due to new information or DNA analysis.

[Jamster]

As I understand it, it is

Rhinoceros viper- B. rhinoceros
Gaboon viper- B. gabonica

(B. nascicornis common name is river jack rather than rhino viper)

[Ruan Stander]

I think the above is an excellent example of why common names should be avoided and binomial names should be used. Bitis rhinoceros, Bitis gabonica and Bitis nasicornis. Simple as that.

[Westley Price]

I have heard the name River Jack, but it never really stuck. Even if you Google "Rhino Viper" you will get 90% nasicornis.

[ghoti]

Thanks everyone!
Is there an accurate online authority that has all the new classifications ?

[ghoti]

Sorry another question.

Which term is more accurate. Adder or Viper? I prefer the term Adder as it is one I am more familiar with. However, I often see them refereed to as vipers. I dont know if both names are accurate or if one should be used over the other.

(Understanding all these semantics and getting them correct is taking loner than I thought:D )

I found this older post by Westley that seems to explain it:

Easy answer; "viper" (Viperidae) is the name of a family, whereas "adder" is a genus (Bitis).

So a Adder is always a viper, but a viper is not necessarily an adder, because there are other genera too.

Just a comment, I'm not sure whether Night adders are now vipers or elapids. There is a lot of dispute about it.

Vipers can be live bearing, or egg layers. As long as they have hinged fangs.

Is this still accurate?

[Warren Klein]

Tony Phelps refers to Bitis nasicornis as the Nose horn viper, not to be confused with the long nose viper which is Vipera ammodytes. I personally still prefer Rhino viper as the common name for B. nasicornis and then East and West African for the gaboons. Old habits die hard, but when in doubt use the scientific name.

[ghoti]

Our reptile club (ARKA Apex Reptile Keepers Association) had its regular meeting last night and we were discussing large bitis at Apex Predator Park. I also did a short talk on the very rare Gabino (an animal Ive been doing as much research as I can on for several months).

To show our members the different colors and types we put all the snakes close to each other (for probably the first time ever) to be compared.



Top left - Gabino (bitis rhinoceros X bitis nasicornis)
Bottom left - East African Gaboon Adder (bitis gabonica)
Bottom right - West African Gaboon Adder (bitis rhinoceros)
Top right - Rhino Adder (bitis nasicornis)

(Snakes by Deon Nel)

[Jamster]

How rare are gabinos?

I have seen a couple over the past few years. One of which was sold by a pet shop here in PE. It died a few months after being bought. Myself and another experienced keeper were asked to determine the cause of death. Other than some internal parasites it's organs were perfect inside and out.