Taxonomy
The species has three recognised subspecies :
| Subspecies | Taxon author | Common name | Geographic range |
|---|---|---|---|
| V. b. berus | (Linnaeus, 1758) | Common European adder | Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, France, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Northern Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Great Britain, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Mongolia, Northwest China (north Xinjiang) |
| V. b. bosniensis | Boettger, 1889 | Balkan cross adder | Balkan Peninsula |
| V. b. sachalinensis | Zarevskij, 1917 | Sakhalin Island adder | Russian Far East (Amur Oblast, Primorskye Kray, Khabarovsk Kray, Sakhalin Island), North Korea, north-east China (Jilin) |
The subspecies V. b. bosniensis and V. b. sachalinensis have been regarded as full species in some recent publications.
Read more about this topic: Vipera Berus