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Viper

Adenorhinos
Atheris
Azemiops
Bitis
Cerastes
Daboia
Echis
Eristicophis
Macrovipera
Montatheris
Proatheris
Pseudocerastes
Vipera

</table> Vipers are venomous snakes belonging to the Viperidae family (consisting of roughly 150 species). They are characterised by long erectile fangs, which are folded back when not in use. They also have triangle-shaped heads with a distinctly narrower neck. The broad areas of the head house the venom glands. Their eyes have irises like those of a cat—but if you are close enough to see that, you're probably too close! Being 0.3–3 m long, vipers feed on small animals, which are injected with venom and then followed until they die.

Common name	Scientific name	Geographic range
Bush Viper	Atheris squamiger	Angola, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya
Carpet Viper	Echis coloratus	Africa, Asia
Cyclades Blunt-Nosed Viper	Vipera lebetina schweizeri	Greece
Crossed Viper	Vipera berus berus	British Isles, Europe, Russia, China, Spain
European Asp	Vipera aspis aspis	Austria, Germany, Italy, France
Fea's Viper	Azemiops feae	Burma, SE Tibet, China
Gaboon Viper	Bitis gabonica gabonica	Most areas of Africa
Horned Desert Viper	Cerastes cerastes cerastes	Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq
Leaf-Nosed Viper	Eristocophis macmaboni	Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan
Long-Nosed Viper	Vipera ammodytes ammodytes	Hungary, Austria, Italy, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia
Palestinian Viper	Vipera palaestinae	Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan
Rhinoceros Viper	Bitis nasicornis	Kenya, Uganda, Angola, Zaire
Rough-Scaled Tree Viper	Atheris bispidus	Kenya, Uganda, Zaire
Russell's Viper	Vipera russellii russellii	Pakistan, India
Saw-scaled Viper	Echis carinatus leakeyi	Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia

See also: Adder, Pit Viper, Saharan Horned Viper

References

• Mehrtens, John M. Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishing, 1987. ISBN 080696460X.

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For the Dodge automobile called Viper, see Dodge Viper. For the Hentai video game series, see Viper Hyper Animation series