NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Taiwan mountain pitviper
Ovophis makazayazaya (Takahashi, 1922)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Taiwan mountain pitviper (Ovophis makazayazaya)
Yung-Lun Lin · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Taiwan mountain pit viper (Ovophis makazayazaya; Chinese: 台湾烙铁头蛇), also known as the Eastern mountain pit viper or Oriental mountain pit viper, is a venomous snake native to southeast China, northern Vietnam, Laos, and Taiwan. It was previously considered a subspecies of Ovophis monticola, but was suggested as a full species in 2011.
Wikipedia contributors, Ovophis makazayazaya; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:56:50.484022+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Ovophis makazayazaya (Takahashi, 1922)
- Name authority
- (Takahashi, 1922)
- Common name
- Taiwan mountain pitviper
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Viperidae
- Genus
- Ovophis
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyViperidae
- subfamilyCrotalinae
- genusOvophis
- speciesOvophis makazayazaya (Takahashi, 1922)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Ovophis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Zayuan mountain pitviperOvophis zayuensis (Jiang, 1977) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Okinawa pitviperOvophis okinavensis (Boulenger, 1892) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Indo-Malayan mountain pitviperOvophis convictus (Stoliczka, 1870) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ovophis monticola (Günther, 1864) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tonkin pitviperOvophis tonkinensis (Bourret, 1934) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Trimeresurus monticora makazayazaya Takahashi, 1930 Takahashi, 1930 | synonym |
| Trimeresurus makazayazaya Takahashi, 1922 Takahashi, 1922 | synonym |
| Trimeresurus orientalis Schmidt, 1925 Schmidt, 1925 | synonym |
| Trimeresurus monticola formosensis Mell, 1929 Mell, 1929 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Ovophis&species=makazayazaya Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4B9XB. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.