Animalia > Chordata > Squamata > Viperidae > Bitis > Bitis gabonica

Bitis gabonica (Gaboon Adder)

Synonyms: Bitis gabonica gabonica; Cerastes gabonica; Echidna gabonica

Wikipedia Abstract

Bitis gabonica, most commonly known as the Gaboon viper, is a viper species found in the rainforests and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. Like all vipers, it is venomous. It is not only the largest member of the genus Bitis, but also the world's heaviest viperid, and it has the longest fangs – up to 2 inches in length (5 cm), and it has highest venom yield of any snake. Two subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.
View Wikipedia Record: Bitis gabonica

Endangered Species

Status: Vulnerable
View IUCN Record: Bitis gabonica

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  5.249 lbs (2.381 kg)
Diet [2]  Carnivore
Litter Size [1]  156
Maximum Longevity [3]  18 years
Nocturnal [2]  Yes
Venomous [4]  Yes

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania No
Eastern Afromontane Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabwe No
Guinean Forests of West Africa Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Togo No
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland No

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Atilax paludinosus (Marsh Mongoose)1
Bdeogale crassicauda (Bushy-tailed Mongoose)1
Poecilogale albinucha (African Striped Weasel)2
Psammophis phillipsii (Olive Grass Racer, Phillips’ Sand Snake)2
Vulpes chama (Cape Fox)1

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Hexametra quadricornis[8]
Ophidascaris intorta <Unverified Name>[8]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 3de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 4Venomous snakes and antivenoms search interface, World Health Organization
♦ 5Conservation Biology of the Gaboon Adder (Bitis gabonica) in South Africa, Jonathan Kirk Warner, A dissertation submitted to the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Science (2009)
♦ 6Aethomys ineptus, CHRISTIAN T. CHIMIMBA AND ALICIA V. LINZEY, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 809, pp. 1-7 (2008)
♦ 7Petrodromus tetradactylus, Mark R. Jennings and Galen B. Rathbun, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 682, pp. 1–6 (2001)
♦ 8Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0