NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Protobothrops jerdonii (Günther, 1875)
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.
Trimeresurus jerdonii at the San Diego Zoo, California, USA. Identified by sign as Protobothrops j.
Stickpen · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Protobothrops jerdonii, also known commonly as Jerdon's pit viper, the yellow-speckled pit viper, and the oriental pit viper, is a species of venomous snake in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. The species is native to India, Nepal, Myanmar, China, and Vietnam. Three subspecies are recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.
Wikipedia contributors, Protobothrops jerdonii; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T14:47:16.965927+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Protobothrops jerdonii (Günther, 1875)
- Name authority
- (Günther, 1875)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Viperidae
- Genus
- Protobothrops
- 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
- genusProtobothrops
- speciesProtobothrops jerdonii (Günther, 1875)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Protobothrops. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Horned Pit Viper (Fi-Si-Pan)Protobothrops cornutus (Smith, 1930) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| HabuProtobothrops flavoviridis (Hallowell, 1861) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Protobothrops himalayanus Pan, Chettri, Yang, Jiang, Wang, Zhang & Vogel, 2013 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kaulback’s lance-headed pitviperProtobothrops kaulbacki (Smith, 1940) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sievers’ Three horned-scaled pitviperProtobothrops sieversorum (Ziegler, Herrmann, David, Orlov & Pauwels, 2000) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tokara HabuProtobothrops tokarensis (Nagai, 1928) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kham plateau pitviperProtobothrops xiangchengensis (Zhao, Jiang & Huang, 1978) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Elegant pitviperProtobothrops elegans (Gray, 1849) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dabie Mountains Pit ViperProtobothrops dabieshanensis Huang, Pan, Han, Zhang, Hou, Yu, Zheng & Zhang, 2012 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mang Mountain PitviperProtobothrops mangshanensis (Zhao, 1990) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mao-lan pitviperProtobothrops maolanensis Yang, Orlov & Wang, 2011 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Brown spotted pitviperProtobothrops mucrosquamatus (Cantor, 1839) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Lachesis jerdonii Boulenger, 1896 Boulenger, 1896 | synonym |
| Lachesis melli Vogt, 1922 Vogt, 1922 | synonym |
| Trimeresurus xanthomelas Günther, 1889 Günther, 1889 | synonym |
| Trimeresurus jerdonii Günther, 1875 Günther, 1875 | synonym |
| Trimeresurus jerdonii bourreti Klemmer, 1963 Klemmer, 1963 | synonym |
| Trimeresurus jerdonii meridionalis Bourret, 1935 Bourret, 1935 | synonym |
| Trimeresurus jerdonii xanthomelas Maslin, 1942 Maslin, 1942 | 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=Protobothrops&species=jerdonii 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:4N4PH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.