Macrovipera lebetina (Linnaeus, 1758:218)

Wagner, Philipp, Bauer, Aaron M., Leviton, Alan E., Wilms, Thomas M. & Böhme, Wolfgang, 2016, A Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Afghanistan *, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 63 (13), pp. 457-565 : 517-518

Macrovipera lebetina (Linnaeus, 1758:218) - complex

1758 Coluber Lebetinus Linnaeus , Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiae (Stockholm], Sweden. (4) + 823 + (I) pp.

TYPE.— Not located, from “Habitat in Oriente.”

SYNONYMS.— Vipera peilei Murray, 1892 from “Zandra. S. Afghanistan, Quetta [in Baluchistan, Pakistan]”; types not located.

LOCALITIES.— Jalalabad ( FMNH 161139); Wama [Nuristan Prov.] ( ZMUC R-6911) [see pl. 14, fig. 6 for distribution].

REMARKS.— Boulenger (1889:104) mentioned four specimens, one each from “Shore-kaltegai”, “Sang-hadji”, “Sang-kotal” and “Mt. Do-Shakh, at Kilki“. Specimens from the first two localities are probably identical with specimens BMNH 1886.9.21. 121–122 of Macrovipera lebetina turanica . The specimen from “Sang-kotal” was donated to the ZSI collection, whereas the whereabouts of the specimen from “Mt. Do-Shakh at Kilki” is unknown. Sclater (1891:68) mentioned a specimen (ZSI 13137) of “ Vipera lebetina ” from “Sang Kotal [NW Herat]”, collected by the “Boundary Commission ( Aitchison1889)”. This specimen may be identical with the specimen mentioned by Leviton and Anderson (1970, see below) and could represent the subspecies M. l. turanica. Leviton and Anderson (1970) mentioned a single record from the Kabul River Valley near Jalalabad. However, they also mentioned a specimen of Gloydius himalayanus (Günther, 1864) from the Universitetets Zoologiske Museum, Copenhagen collected at Wama in Nuristan Province. This specimen was later identified by Nilson (1983) as Macrovipera lebetina . Leviton and Anderson (1970) also mentioned an occurrence of M. lebetina in northwestern Afghanistan (without mentioning specific specimens, but see also above), and this record should be attributed to M. l. turanica.

The taxon Macrovipera lebetina needs to be clarified. Oraie et al. (in litt. David and Ineich 1999: 322f.) studied the Iranian populations of the species and recognized the western and northwestern Populations in Iran as the subspecies obtusa, and the eastern and northeastern (in the border area to Afghanistan and Turkmenistan) as the subspecies M. l. chernovi . According to David and Ineich (1999), Turkmenistan is inhabted only by M. l. chernovi , Uzbekistan by M. l. chernovi and M. l. turanica, Tajikistan by M. l. turanica, and Afghanistan solely by M. l. chernovi . Moreover, some of the populations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India that are recognized today as M. l. chernovi may be referable to the synonymy of Vipera peilei . If the taxa are identical, chernovi would be a junior synonym of peilei and some of the Afghan populations would represent this taxon. From the aforementioned comments, it is obvious that most likely more than one taxon of the complex is present in Afghanistan. Eastern and western populations could refer to “ Vipera peilei ” or Macrovipera lebetina chernovi , whereas specimens from northern Afghanistan could refer to Macrovipera lebetina turanica . An occurence of the latter taxon in Afghanistan is very likely because this taxon was found in Tajikistan directly at the border with Afghanistan (P. Wagner, pers. obs.).