NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Salazar’s pit viper
Trimeresurus salazar Mirza, Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande & Patel, 2020
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.
Figure 7; Trimeresurus salazar sp. nov. juvenile male from Pakke Tiger Reserve photographed in 2008.
[Photo by Aamod Zambre and Chintan Seth, Eaglenest Biodiversity Project] Mirza ZA, Bhosale HS, Phansalkar PU, Sawant M, Gowande GG, Patel H (2020) A new species of green pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 (Reptilia, Serpentes, Viperidae) from western Arunachal Pradesh, India. Zoosystematics and Evolution 96(1): 123-138. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.96.48431 · 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
Trimeresurus salazar, also known as Salazar's pit viper, is a species of venomous, green pit viper first discovered in 2019 in the lowlands of the western part of Arunachal Pradesh, India; the fifth new reptile species to be discovered in the region in 2019. It was named after Salazar Slytherin from the Harry Potter series. It has a dark green head and yellowish green dorsal scales on the rest of its body. The species is sexually dichromatic; the males have reddish-orange and yellow-orange stripes and a rusty red-orange tail that the females lack. Its habitat is under threat from human development activities.
Wikipedia contributors, Trimeresurus salazar; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:26:14.998344+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Trimeresurus salazar Mirza, Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande & Patel, 2020
- Name authority
- Mirza, Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande & Patel, 2020
- Common name
- Salazar’s pit viper
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Viperidae
- Genus
- Trimeresurus
- 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
- genusTrimeresurus
- speciesTrimeresurus salazar Mirza, Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande & Patel, 2020
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Trimeresurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Island Pit ViperTrimeresurus labialis Fitzinger, 1867 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Green Bamboo Leaf Pit ViperTrimeresurus medoensis Zhao, 1977 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Philippine pitviperTrimeresurus flavomaculatus (Gray, 1842) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gumprecht’s green pitviperTrimeresurus gumprechti David, Vogel, Pauwels & Vidal, 2002 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| White-lipped island pitviperTrimeresurus insularis Kramer, 1977 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Central Nicobar Pit ViperTrimeresurus mutabilis Stoliczka, 1870 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cameron Highlands pitviperTrimeresurus nebularis Vogel, David & Pauwels, 2004 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ruby-eyed Green PitviperTrimeresurus rubeus (Malhotra, Thorpe, Mrinalini & Stuart, 2011) | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Vogel’s Pit ViperTrimeresurus vogeli David, Vidal & Pauwels, 2001 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Trimeresurus stejnegeri Schmidt, 1925 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Beautiful pitviperTrimeresurus venustus Vogel, 1991 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ornamental tailed pit- viperTrimeresurus caudornatus Chen, Ding, Vogel & Shi, 2020 | ViperidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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=Trimeresurus&species=salazar 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:8GQFX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.