Common names: Transcaucasian sand viper, Armenian sand viper.

Vipera ammodytes transcaucasiana is a venomous

Venomous snake

"Poisonous snake" redirects here. For true poisonous snakes, see Rhabdophis.Venomous snakes are snakes which have venom glands and specialized teeth for the injection of venom...

 viper

Viperinae

The Viperinae, or viperines, are a subfamily of venomous vipers found in Europe, Asia and Africa. They are distinguished by their lack of the heat-sensing pit organs that characterize their sister group, the Crotalinae. Currently, 12 genera and 66 species are recognized...

 subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 found in parts of Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 and northern Turkish Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

.

Description

Grows to a maximum length of 75 cm, but is usually not so large.

On the head, the rostral scale is wider than it is long, supporting a rostral appendage or "horn" covered with 9-17 scales arranged in 3 (rarely 2 or 4) transverse rows. On the dorsum, there are two large supraoculars of which the posterior extends beyond the posterior margin of the eye. The rest of the head is covered with small, irregular scales that are either smooth or weakly keeled. There are 7 interocular scale rows. Frontal and parietal plates usually absent. The nostril is located within a single, large, concave nasal scale that is rarely divided. The nasal is separated from the rostral by a single nasorostral scale

Nasorostral scale

In reptiles, the nasorostral is an enlarged and usually paired scale, just behind the rostral ....

. The temporal scales

Temporal scales

In reptiles, the temporal scales are those scales on the side of the head between the parietal scales and the supralabial scales, and behind the postocular scales.There are two types of temporal scales:...

 are either smooth or weakly keeled. There are 11-12 circumorbital scales, while two rows separate the eye from the supralabials. There are 9-10 supralabials, of which the 4th and 5th are the largest.

Midbody there are 21 rows of strongly keeled dorsal scales

Dorsal scales

In snakes, the dorsal scales are the longitudinal series of plates that encircle the body, but do not include the ventral scales.When counting dorsal scales, numbers are often given for three points along the body, for example 19:21:17...

, while those bordering the ventrals are either smooth or only weakly keeled. There are 148-160 ventrals and 32-40 paired subcaudal scales

Subcaudal scales

In snakes, the subcaudal scales are the enlarged plates on the underside of the tail. These scales may be either single or divided and are preceded by the anal scale....

. The anal plate is single.

The color pattern consists of a light gray, ash gray, silver gray, pale gray or grayish white ground color, overlaid with a dorsal pattern of narrow transverse bands. The top of the head and the nasal horn do not have any irregular dark markings, except for a weak V-marking on the back of the head. The iris id golden or coppery. Juveniles have a similar color pattern.

Geographic range

Confined to sections of Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 and northern Turkish Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

, according to Nilson et al. (1988). Contrary to some publications, this subspecies does not occur in Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

 or Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

Taxonomy

Some elevate V. a. transcaucasiana to species level based on genetic distances that are larger than other full species, such as between V. aspis

Vipera aspis

Vipera aspis is a venomous viper species found in southwestern Europe. Bites from this species can be more severe than from the European adder, V. berus; not only can they be very painful, but about 4% of all untreated bites are fatal...

 and V. latastei

Vipera latastei

Vipera latastei is a venomous viper species found in extreme southwestern Europe and northwestern Africa. Two subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.-Description:...

(Herrmann et al. 1987, 1992).