Common names: Fan-Si-Pan horned pitviper.

Trimeresurus cornutus 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...

 pitviper

Crotalinae

The Crotalinae, commonly known as "pit vipers" or crotaline snakes, are a subfamily of venomous vipers found in Asia and the Americas. They are distinguished by the presence of a heat-sensing pit organ located between the eye and the nostril on either side of the head...

 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 found in Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

. Previously, it was known from only two specimens, but was recently rediscovered in the central part of the country. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Geographic range

Found in Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 in Bach Ma

Bach Ma National Park

Bach Ma National Park is a protected area in central Vietnam, near the city of Hué. It covers 220 km² and comprises three zones: a strictly protected core area, an administrative area and a buffer zone....

 and Tonkin

Tonkin

Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...

. Occurs in rainforests at low elevations. The type locality given is "Fan-si-pan mountains, Tonkin, Indo-China.". (Mount Fan Si Pan, Sa Pa District, Lao Cai Province

Lao Cai Province

Lào Cai , is a province of northeastern in the mountainous region of Vietnam, bordering the province of Yunnan in the China. The province covers an area of 6383.9 square kilometres and as of 2008 it had a population of 602,300 people....

, northwestern Viertnam).

Gumprecht et al. (2004) write that, previously, this species was known from only two specimens, but was rediscovered in central Vietnam (Phong Nha-Ke Bang NP, Guang Binh province) in 2001 (Ziegler and Herrmann, 2002).

Conservations status

This species is classified as Data Deficient (DD) on the IUCN Red List (v2.3, 1994). This means that there is inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction based on its distribution and/or population status. A taxon in this category may be well studied, and its biology well known, but appropriate data on abundance and/or distribution is lacking. Data Deficient is therefore not a category of threat or Lower Risk. Listing of taxa in this category indicates that more information is required and acknowledges the possibility that future research will show that threatened classification is appropriate. It is important to make positive use of whatever data are available. In many cases great care should be exercised in choosing between DD and threatened status. If the range of a taxon is suspected to be relatively circumscribed, if a considerable period of time has elapsed since the last record of the taxon, threatened status may well be justified. Year assessed: 1996.

Taxonomy

Herrmann et al. (2004) moved this species to Protobothrops based on external and hemipenal morphology, as well as molecular data.