Description
Darevsky's Viper is a relatively small venomous snake. Bite is painful and will cause local swelling, but is not life threatening to human. In this species there is a sexual dimorphism in size, color and pattern appearance. The reported maximum length for females is 42.1 cm. The largest male was 25.8 cm. The dorsal surface of V. darevskii has somewhat light brown to grey background with dark brown to black often broken zigzag pattern along the back and single row of small dark blotches on both sides of the body. The belly has a pattern from the numerous grey of black dots. In females is it greyer, while in males it is almost black with some white fragments on the edges of ventral shields. The shileds of the chin and lips are white, with few dark fang-like fragments on labial shields, which makes this species different from related Vipera eriwanensis, which has somewhat pink tint on labials. In general adult males are obviously brighter and more contrast colored compared to females. Females have more brown background and less pronounced brown pattern, while adult males have relatively light background with yellow tint and dark often black pattern. Body scales are killed. The frontal head carries a complex of enlarged shields called pileus.
Read more about this topic: Vipera Darevskii
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