t 



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21 



Trimeresurus mangshanensis 



[36]; The literal translation of the Chinese title should read as "A new species of laotietou snakes - The 

 Mangshan laotietou snake". The authors use the vernacular names, laotietou and Mangshan 

 laotietou, rather than the scientific names. 



[37]: A name meaning "Mangshan iron-head snake". 



[38]: Although the article is signed by ZHAO & CHEN, the specific description is clearly attributed to ZHAO 

 only. Accordingly, this species must be referred to as T. mangshanensis Zhao in Zhao & Chen, 1990. 



[39]: The back cover of this issue of the Sichuan Journal of Zoology is a color photograph of the living 

 juvenile snakes. 



[40]: A mantou is a Chinese steamed bread, made from wheat, popular in northern China. Its shape is 

 broadly like a crude hemisphere. So, this scale has a semicircular appearance, broadly similar to the 

 r\ figure. 



[41]: This subfoveal is also the lower preocular. 



[42]: The authors call the subocular "the postero-inferior-ocular". 



[43]: According to PETERS (1964: 182), it seems that this term is here improperly used. 



[44]: It is unfortunate that the description of this species is based on two juveniles, because it does not do 

 justice to the formidable size and weight reached by larger adults. This is really a giant pitviper. CHEN 

 (1990), also translated here, gives a description of the adults and mentions a size of about 2 m, for a 

 weight of 3 kg. Mr. CHEN Yuan Hui kindly supplied {in littehs, October 1993) fiirther data about the 

 species, of which follows a short summary. This species is currently known only fi-om a forested area 

 of a few tens of square-kilometers between 700 m and 1300 m, where it is regularly encountered by 

 peasants, although in low number. One specimen weighed about 4 kg, and another one slightly more 

 than 5 kg, and local residents suggest that much heavier animals were caught. Another specimen had a 

 total length of 203 cm, an head length of 85 mm and a body diameter of 50 mm. This snake feeds on 

 insects, mammals and frogs. It is oviparous, depositing from 13 to 21 eggs (diameter about 30 mm). 

 See also note [51] below. In the Trimeresurus-com^\Q^, solely Trimeresurus flavoviridis, of the 

 Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan, reaches a larger size with a known maximal total length of 2.41 cm 

 (Anonymous, 1993), but it is much lighter, as this specimen weighed only 1.35 kg; the second largest 

 known specimen was long of 231.5 cm and weighed 2.4 kg (MiSHIMA, 1980). 



[45] : According to published photographs, the pattern, and especially the edges of the transversal bands, 

 are much more contrasted in juveniles, which look like being banded. In adults, the pattern is quite 

 obscure. 



[46]: The literal translation of the Chinese title should read as "Discovery of a new snake species in China - 

 The Mangshan laotietou snake". This article has no English summary. 



[47]: It seems that this paper was written before the formal description of the species. However, as it does 

 not include any binominal latin name, there can not be any dispute concerning the true authorship of 

 this species. 



[48]: In our opinion, this description is more appropriate than the one given in ZHAO & CHEN (1990). The 

 species is mostly yellowish-green, marked with large, more or less squarrish dark brown or dark 

 violaceous dorsolateral blotches, as wide as the yellowish-green ground color, which are paired or 

 alternating, forming irregular cross bands or a chequered pattern; scattered brownish spots between 

 the dorsolateral blotches; below these dark dorsal blotches, a series of irregular lateral blotches of the 

 same color. The dark color becomes dominant in larger adult. Upper head surfaces of the same color 

 than the body, marked with symmetrical brownish figures. End of tail whitish. 



