Common names: Nikolsky's adder, forest-steppe adder.

Vipera nikolskii 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...

 viper

Viperinae

The Viperinae, or viperines, are a subfamily of venomous vipers found in Europe, Asia and Africa. They are distinguished by their lack of the heat-sensing pit organs that characterize their sister group, the Crotalinae. Currently, 12 genera and 66 species are recognized...

 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...

 endemic in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 and Southern-West Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.}} No subspecies are currently recognized.

Description

Adults are short and thick-bodied, growing to a maximum length of 680 mm.

Holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

: ZDKU 14704, according to Golay et al. (1993).

Geographic range

Central Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 and Southern-West Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. Mallow et al. (2003) mention that the distribution is concentrated in the forest-steppe zone of the Charkov region in Ukraine. The type locality, according to Golay et al. (1993), is the banks of the Uda river, between Besljudovka and Vasishtshevo, near Kharkov. Also, Vipera nikolskii was recently founded in Eastern part of Romania and Basarabia (Moldova, Republic of) by Zinenko et al. (2010).