Malayan Pit Viper

About the Malayan Pit Viper

Common names: Malayan ground pit viper, Malayan pit viper, Malayan ground snake, Malayan moccasin, Javan pit viper, Indonesian pit viper. Calloselasma is a monotypic genus created for a pit viper species, Calloselasma rhodostoma, which is endemic to Southeast Asia from Thailand to northern Malaysia and on the island of Java. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Found in Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, northern West Malaysia and on the Indonesian island of Java. The type locality is listed as "Java". There are unconfirmed, but credible reports from southern Myanmar (Burma), northern Sumatra and northern Borneo.

Attains an average total length of 76 cm (30 in), with females being slightly longer than males. Occasionally, they may grow as long as 91 cm (36 in). A specimen with a total length of 81 cm (32 in) has a tail 9 cm (3.5 in) long.

Dorsally it is reddish, grayish, or pale brown, with two series of large, dark brown, black-edged triangular blotches, which are alternating or opposite. There is also a thin dark brown vertebral stripe, which may be interrupted or indistinct in some specimens. The upper labials are pink or yellowish... Wikipedia →