Trimeresurus insularis

Trimeresurus insularis, commonly known as the Indonesian pit viper, Lesser Sunda Islands pit viper, Komodo Island pit viper, Sunda white-lipped pit viper or red-tailed pit viper, also popularly known as blue pit viper, blue viper or blue insularis, is a species of venomous pit viper found in eastern Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Trimeresurus insularis
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Viperidae
Genus:	Trimeresurus
Species:	T. insularis
Binomial name
Trimeresurus insularis Kramer, 1977
Synonyms
Trimeresurus albolabris insularis Kramer, 1977 Cryptelytrops insularis – Malhotra & Thorpe, 2004 Trimeresurus (Trimeresurus) insularis – David et al., 2011

Description

The scalation includes 21 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 156–164/156–167 ventral scales in males/females, 70–75/54–59 subcaudal scales in males/females, and 7–12 supralabial scales. Their color patterns are often found to be green or blue-green, with specific populations even containing yellow variants as well.

• 
  green color variant of Lesser Sunda Islands pit viper on Padar island, Indonesia

Geographic range

It is found in Indonesia on eastern Java, Adonara, Alor, Bali, Flores, Komodo, Lombok, Padar, Rinca, Romang, Rote, Sumba, Sumbawa, Timor and Wetar. They are also found in neighboring Timor-Leste. The type locality given is "Soe, Timor". They are arboreal and can be found in dry monsoon forests at elevations up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above sea level.

Further reading

• Kramer, E. 1977. Zur Schlangenfauna Nepals. Rev. suisse Zool. 84 (3): 721–761. (Trimeresurus albolabris insularis, p. 755.)