NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Great Lakes Bush Viper
Atheris nitschei Tornier, 1902
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.
Nitsche's bush viper
Esquilo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Common names: Great Lakes bush viper, Nitsche's bush viper, more.
Atheris nitschei is a species of venomous snake, a viper in the subfamily Viperinae of the family Viperidae. The species is native to Africa. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.
Wikipedia contributors, Atheris nitschei; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:32:24.962398+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Atheris nitschei Tornier, 1902
- Name authority
- Tornier, 1902
- Common name
- Great Lakes Bush Viper
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Viperidae
- Genus
- Atheris
- 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
- subfamilyViperinae
- genusAtheris
- speciesAtheris nitschei Tornier, 1902
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Atheris. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Mayombe Bush-ViperAtheris anisolepis Mocquard, 1887 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mt Kenya Bush ViperAtheris desaixi Ashe, 1968 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Uzungwe Mountain Bush ViperAtheris barbouri Loveridge, 1930 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Matilda's Horned ViperAtheris matildae Menegon, Davenport & Howell, 2011 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Katanga Mountain Bush ViperAtheris katangensis de Witte, 1953 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bristly Tree ViperAtheris hirsuta Ernst & Rödel, 2002 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Green bush viperAtheris chlorechis (Pel, 1852) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| African Hairy Bush ViperAtheris hispida Laurent, 1955 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mount Mabu bush viperAtheris mabuensis Branch & Bayliss, 2009 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| African Bush ViperAtheris squamigera Hallowell, 1854 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Broadley’s bush viperAtheris broadleyi Lawson, 1999 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Atheris subocularis Fischer, 1888 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Atheris woosnami Boulenger, 1906 Boulenger, 1906 | 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=Atheris&species=nitschei 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:5W8YX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.