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Discovery Channel ran a show last night about an unclassified new species of pit viper found off the coast of Malaysia. It had been found now on three seperate occasions and has been dubbed the Tioman pit viper after the island it was found. I'm sure there has been an elapsed amount of time since filming the show and was wondering if anyone knows anything more about this new species.

That show has been replayed for a couple of years, have not heard anything new on this species of pit viper.

I believe that is the same snake as what is described in gumprect's book "Asian Pitvipers" as "Trimeresurus Species #2" or something along those lines, and just says that and the other unnamed species ( "Trim #1" ) are as of yet unclassified, but it has been a few years since that book was published and maybe more info is available.

I'm from Malaysia and if i'm not mistaken, it's been classified as a subspecies of the popeirum complex, thought i'm not sure if an exact scientific name has been given. I will check with some other friends of mine as they may have collected specimens from that island.

Always wanted to go Tioman for herping, but i've been so busy on the west side of the Peninsular.

Regards
hans
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www.naturemalaysia.com - essential guide to herping and snake species in Malaysia

>>Discovery Channel ran a show last night about an unclassified new species of pit viper found off the coast of Malaysia. It had been found now on three seperate occasions and has been dubbed the Tioman pit viper after the island it was found. I'm sure there has been an elapsed amount of time since filming the show and was wondering if anyone knows anything more about this new species.

The Tioman pitviper is part of the genus Popeia (formerly Trimeresurus) popeiorum comples, and was described as a new species, Popeia buniana, by Grismer et al., 2006. Previous studies had placed it aspart of Popeia fucata or Popeia sabahi. Note that some of these differences of opinion (particular whether it is a separate species or part of sabahi) come down to differences in philosophy and species concept rather than disagreement over the available evidence. For a summary and references, see http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/update.htm

Cheers,

WW
Venomous Snake Systematics Alert

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-thanks Wolfgang