Protobothrops

{{Short description|Genus of snakes}} {{Automatic Taxobox | image = Protobothrops cornutus.jpg | image_caption = ''[[Protobothrops cornutus]]'' | image2 = Habu-T flavoviridis 20061231.jpg | taxon = Protobothrops | authority = [[Alphonse Richard Hoge|Hoge]] & [[species:Sylvia Alma Renata Wilma Lemos Romano-Hoge|Romano-Hoge]], 1983 | subdivision_ranks = Species | type_species = ''[[Protobothrops flavoviridis|Bothrops flavoviridis]]'' | type_species_authority = [[Edward Hallowell (herpetologist)|Hallowell]], 1861 }}

'''''Protobothrops''''' is a [[genus]] of [[pit viper]]s found in Asia.<ref name="RDB">{{NRDB genus |genus=Protobothrops |access-date=13 August 2022}}.</ref> It is also known as the '''lance headed pit vipers'''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grassby-Lewis |first=Rupert J. |last2=Brakels |first2=Peter |last3=Maury |first3=Nathanaël |last4=Sitthivong |first4=Saly |last5=Frohlich |first5=David |last6=Pawangkhanant |first6=Parinya |last7=Idiiatullina |first7=Sabira S. |last8=Nguyen |first8=Tan Van |last9=Poyarkov |first9=Nikolay A. |date=2025-02-25 |title=A new endemic karst-associated species of lance-headed pit viper (Squamata, Viperidae, Protobothrops) from Laos |url=https://herpetozoa.pensoft.net/article/146004/ |journal=Herpetozoa |language=en |volume=38 |pages=43–60 |doi=10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e146004 |doi-access=free|issn=2682-955X}}</ref>

The [[venom]] of ''Protobothrops'' can be diverse and unique across individual organisms of the same and differing species and has demonstrated the ability to evolve in an accelerated manner.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Shibata|first1=Hiroki|last2=Chijiwa|first2=Takahito|last3=Oda-Ueda|first3=Naoko|last4=Nakamura|first4=Hitomi|last5=Yamaguchi|first5=Kazuaki|last6=Hattori|first6=Shousaku|last7=Matsubara|first7=Kazumi|last8=Matsuda|first8=Yoichi|last9=Yamashita|first9=Akifumi|last10=Isomoto|first10=Akiko|last11=Mori|first11=Kazuki|date=2018-07-26|title=The habu genome reveals accelerated evolution of venom protein genes|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=8|issue=1|page=11300|doi=10.1038/s41598-018-28749-4|pmid=30050104|pmc=6062510|bibcode=2018NatSR...811300S |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Inamaru|first1=Kento|last2=Takeuchi|first2=Ami|last3=Maeda|first3=Marie|last4=Shibata|first4=Hiroki|last5=Fukumaki|first5=Yasuyuki|last6=Oda-Ueda|first6=Naoko|last7=Hattori|first7=Shosaku|last8=Ohno|first8=Motonori|last9=Chijiwa|first9=Takahito|date=2020-03-12|title=Discovery of the Gene Encoding a Novel Small Serum Protein (SSP) of ''Protobothrops flavoviridis'' and the Evolution of SSPs |journal=Toxins |language=en |volume=12 |issue=3 |page=177 |doi=10.3390/toxins12030177 |pmid=32178380 |pmc=7150969 |doi-access=free}}</ref> One possible explanation for these traits is that the [[habitat]] in which ''Protobothrops'' reside contains a large variety of prey which may have prompted the diversification of the [[venom]] related [[gene]]s.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

==Species== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Scientific name !! Distribution |- |[[File:Protobothrops cornutus (1).jpg|120px]]|| ''[[Protobothrops cornutus]]'' ([[Malcolm Arthur Smith|M.A. Smith]], 1930)|| Vietnam and Southern China. |- ||| ''[[Protobothrops dabieshanensis]]'' [[species:Xin Huang|Huang]], [[species:Tao Pan|T. Pan]], [[species:De-Min Han|Han]], [[species:Liang Zhang|L. Zhang]], [[species:Yin-Xu Hou|Hou]], [[species:Lei Yu|Yu]], [[species:He-Ming Zheng|Zheng]] & [[species:Bao-Wei Zhang|B. Zhang]], 2012||China |- |[[File:Protobothrops elegans.jpg|120px]]|| ''[[Protobothrops elegans]]'' ([[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1849)||[[Ryukyu Islands]], specifically the [[Yaeyama Islands]]. |- |[[File:Protobothrops flavirostris.jpg|frameless|125x125px]] |[[Protobothrops flavirostris|''Protobothrops'' ''flavirostris'']] Grassby-Lewis, Brakels, Maury, Sitthivong, Frohlich, Pawangkhanant, Idiiatullina, Nguyen & Poyarkov, 2025<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grassby-Lewis |first1=Rupert J. |last2=Brakels |first2=Peter |last3=Maury |first3=Nathanaël |last4=Sitthivong |first4=Saly |last5=Frohlich |first5=David |last6=Pawangkhanant |first6=Parinya |last7=Idiiatullina |first7=Sabira S. |last8=Nguyen |first8=Tan Van |last9=Poyarkov |first9=Nikolay A. |date=2025-02-25 |title=A new endemic karst-associated species of lance-headed pit viper (Squamata, Viperidae, Protobothrops) from Laos |url=https://herpetozoa.pensoft.net/article/146004/element/2/15// |journal=Herpetozoa |language=en |volume=38 |pages=43–60 |doi=10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e146004 |doi-access=free |issn=2682-955X}}</ref> |[[Vangvieng district|Vang Vieng District]], [[Vientiane province|Vientiane Province]], [[Laos]] |- |[[File:Protobothrops flavoviridis.jpg|120px]]|| ''[[Protobothrops flavoviridis]]'' ([[Edward Hallowell (herpetologist)|Hallowell]], 1861)||Ryukyu Islands, including [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] and the [[Amami Islands]]. |- ||| ''[[Protobothrops himalayanus]]'' [[species:Hu-Jun Pan|H. Pan]], [[species:Basunhara Chettri|Chettri]], [[species:Dao-de Yang|D. Yang]], [[species:Ke Jiang|K. Jiang]], [[species:Kai Wang|K. Wang]], L. Zhang & [[species:Gernot Vogel|Vogel]], 2013||China (southern Tibet), Nepal, Bhutan, India (Sikkim) |- |[[File:Protobothrops jerdoni xanthomelas.jpg|120px]]|| ''[[Protobothrops jerdonii]]'' ([[Albert Günther|Günther]], 1875)|| India, Nepal, Myanmar, China, and Vietnam. |- ||| ''[[Protobothrops kaulbacki]]'' (M.A. Smith, 1940)||Myanmar, China |- ||| ''[[Protobothrops kelomohy]]'' [[Montri Sumontha|Sumontha]], [[species:Taksa Vasaruchapong|Vasaruchapong]], [[species:Nirut Chomngam|Chomngam]], [[species:Sunutcha Suntrarachun|Suntrarachun]], [[species:Parinya Pawangkhanant|Pawangkhanant]], [[species:Weerasak Sompan|Sompan]], [[species:Ton Smit|Smit]], [[species:Kirati Kunya|Kunya]] & [[species:Lawan Chanhome|Chanhome]], 2020||Northern Thailand |- |[[File:Protobothrops mangshanensis mang pitviper LA zoo top.jpg|120px]]|| ''[[Protobothrops mangshanensis]]'' ([[Er-mi Zhao|Zhao]], 1990)||China (Guangdong, Hunan) |- ||| ''[[Protobothrops maolanensis]]'' [[species:Jian-Huan Yang|J. Yang]], [[Nikolai Liutsianovich Orlov|Orlov]] & [[species:Ying-Yong Wang|Y. Wang]], 2011||China (Guizhou) |- |[[File:Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus Taiwan.jpg|120px]]|| ''[[Protobothrops mucrosquamatus]]'' ([[Theodore Edward Cantor|Cantor]], 1839)|| India (Assam and Mizoram) and Bangladesh, to Myanmar, China (including Hainan, and as far north as Gansu and as far east as Zhejiang), Laos, northern and central Vietnam, also found in northern Thailand as well as in Taiwan |- ||| ''[[Protobothrops sieversorum]]'' ([[Thomas Ziegler (zoologist)|Ziegler]], [[species:Hans-Werner Herrmann|Herrmann]], [[species:Patrick David|David]], Orlov & [[Olivier Sylvain Gérard Pauwels|Pauwels]], 2000)||Vietnam |- |[[File:Trimeresurus flavoviridis tokarensis (Protobothrops tokarensis)「日本蛇類図譜」Maki 1933 pl LXXXV (cropped).jpg|120px]]|| ''[[Protobothrops tokarensis]]'' ([[species:Kamehiko Nagai|Nagai]], 1928)||[[Kagoshima Prefecture|Kagoshima]], [[Kyushu]] and the Ryukyu Islands |- ||| ''[[Protobothrops trungkhanhensis]]'' Orlov, [[species:Sergei Aleksandrovich Ryabov|Ryabov]] & [[species:Tao Thien Nguyen|Nguyen]], 2009||Vietnam, China |- ||| ''[[Protobothrops xiangchengensis]]'' (Zhao, [[species:Yao-Ming Jiang|Y. Jiang]] & [[species:Qing-Yun Huang|Huang]], 1979)||China (Yunnan, Sichuan) |- |}

''[[Nota bene]]'': A [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial authority]] in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Protobothrops''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Protobothrops| ]] [[Category:Pit vipers]] [[Category:Snake genera]] [[Category:Taxa named by Alphonse Richard Hoge]] [[Category:Taxa named by Sylvia Alma Renata Wilma de Lemos Romano-Hoge]]