Trimeresurus is a genus of pit vipers native to Asia. They are found from the Indian subcontinent throughout Southeast Asia, China, and the Pacific Islands. The genus currently contains 44 recognized species. Common names include Asian palm pit vipers,Mehrtens JM (1987). Living Snakes of the World in Color. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . Asian lanceheads, and green pit vipers.United States Navy (1991). Poisonous Snakes of the World. New York: U.S. Government / Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. .
Description Most species in the genus Trimeresurus are relatively small, primarily arboreal species, with thin bodies and prehensile tails. Most Trimeresurus species are typically green in color, but some species also have yellow, black, orange, red, or gold markings.
Feeding The diet of Trimeresurus species includes a variety of animals, including lizards, amphibians, birds, rodents, and other small mammals.
Reproduction Like most viper species, many of the species in the genus Trimeresurus are ovoviviparous, bearing live young. However, some species such as T. macrolepis and T. hageni are oviparous, laying eggs. Also, the reproductive biology of some Trimeresurus species is as yet unknown.
Venom Trimeresurus venom varies in toxicity between species, but all are primarily hemotoxic and considered to be medically significant to humans.
Geographic range Species in the genus Trimeresurus are found in Southeast Asia from India (including regions of the North Chotanagpur division of Jharkhand) to Southern China, Taiwan, and Japan, and the Malay Archipelago to Timor.
Species ImageSpeciesTaxon authorSubsp.*Common nameGumprecht A, Tillack F, Orlov NL, Captain A, Ryabov S (2004). Asian Pitvipers. First Edition. Berlin: GeitjeBooks. 368 pp. .Geographic rangeT. albolabrisGray, 18420white-lipped pit viper India (Assam), Nicobar Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Southern China (Fujian, Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong), Hong Kong, West Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Java, Madura, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores, Sumba, Rote, Timor, Kisar, Wetar).T. andersoniiTheobald, 1868 0Anderson's pit viper, Andaman pit viper Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands.T. arunachalensisCaptain, Deepak, Pandit, Bhatt & Athreya, 20190Arunachal pit viperIndia: Arunachal PradeshT. ayerwadyensisChan, Anuar, Sankar, Law, Law, Shivaram, Christian, Mulcahy & Malhotra, 20230Ayerwady pit viperMyanmarT. calamitasVogel, David & Sidik, 20220Indonesia (Nias Island).T. cantoriBlyth, 18460Cantor's pit viperIndia: Nicobar Islands, and possibly the Andaman Islands.T. cardamomensisMalhotra, Thorpe, Mrinalini & B. Stuart, 20110Cardamom Mountains green pit viperEastern Thailand, Koh Kong Province in Cambodia.T. caudornatusChen, Ding, Vogel & S. Shi, 20200ornamental-tailed pit viperChina (Yunnan).T. ciliarisIdiiatullina, Pawangkhanant, Tawan, Worranuch, Dechochai, Suwannapoom, Nguyen, Chanhome & Poyarkov, 2023 0limestone eyelash pit viperThailandT. cryptographicusPawangkhanant, Idiiatullina, Ruangsuwan, Matsukoji, David, Suwannapoom & Poyarkov, 20250Cryptic green pit viperThailandT. CyanolabrisIdiiatullina, Nguyen, Bragin, Pawangkhanant, Le, Vogel, David & Poyarkov, 20240blue lipped green pit viperVietnam T. davidiChandramouli, P. Campbell & Vogel, 2020.0Car Nicobar, India.T. erythrochlorisPawangkhanant, Idiiatullina, Smits, Dugdale, Pierce, Suwannapoom & Poyarkov, 20250Red barred green pit viperThailand T. erythrurusCantor, 18390red-tailed bamboo pit viperIndia (Assam and Sikkim), Bangladesh and Myanmar.T. fasciatusBoulenger, 18960banded pit viperIndonesia: Djampea Island.T. flavomaculatusGray, 18422Philippine pit viperPhilippine Islands: Agutayan, Batan, Camiguin, Catanduanes, Dinagat, Jolo, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros and Polillo.T. gracilisŌshima, 19200Kikushi habuCentral Taiwan.T. gumprechtiDavid, Vogel, Pauwels & Vidal, 20020Gumprecht's green pit viperChina (Yunnan), Laos, Thailand, Vietnam.T. gunaleniVogel, David & Sidik, 20140Gunalen's pit viperSumatra.T. guoiChen, S. Shi, Vogel & Ding, 20200Guo's green pit viperChina, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar.T. hageniLidth de Jeude, 18860Hagen's pit viperPeninsular Thailand, West Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra and the nearby islands of Bangka, Simalur, Nias, Batu and the Mentawai Islands.T. honsonensisL. Grismer, Ngo & J. Grismer, 20080Hon Son pit viper Southern Vietnam.T. insularisKramer, 19770Sunda Island pit viper, white-lipped island pit viperIndonesia, Timor-LesteT. kanburiensisM.A. Smith, 19430Kanburi pit viper Thailand.T. kirscheyiVogel, David & Sidik, 20220Simeulue pit viperIndonesia (Simeulue Island).T. kraensisIdiiatullina, Nguyen, Pawangkhanant, Suwannapoom, Chanhome, Nguyen, David, Vogel & Poyarkov, 20240Kra isthumus pit viperIndia: Thailand.T. kuiburiSumontha, Suntrarachun, Pauwels, Pawangkhanant, Chomngam, Iamwiriyakul & Chanhome, 20210Kui Buri pit viper Thailand.T. labialisSteindachner, 18670Nicobar bamboo pit viperIndia: Nicobar Islands.T. lannaIdiiatullina, Nguyen, Pawangkhanant, Suwannapoom, Chanhome, Mirza, David, Vogel & Poyarkov, 20240Lanna pit viperThailand.T. liiCai et al., 2026 0Huaxi Green PitviperWest Sichuan, China.T. liqibiniLiang et al., 2026 0Li Qibin’s Green Pit ViperYunan Province, China.T. loongXu, Deng, Nyugen, Zhang, Weng, Liao, Sun, Peng, Vogel & Poyarkov, 20250Kunming Green pit viperChina: Yunnan ProvinceT. macropsKramer, 19770large-eyed pit viperThailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam.T. malcolmiLoveridge, 19380Malcolm's pit viperBorneo.T. mayaaeRathee, Purkayastha, Lalremsanga, Dalal, Biakzuala, Muansanga & Mirza, 2022Rathee YS, Purkayastha J, Lalremsanga HT, Dalal S, Biakzuala L, Muansanga L, Mirza ZA (2022). A new cryptic species of green pit viper of the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède, 1804 (Serpentes, Viperidae) from northeast India. PLoS ONE 17(5): e0268402. 0Maya's pit viperIndia: Meghalaya (Ri Bhoi), Mizoram (Champhai), Assam (Guwahati)T. mcgregoriTaylor, 19190McGregor's pit viper, McGregor's tree viper, Philippine pit viperBatan Island, Philippines.T. medoensisZhao, 19770Motuo bamboo pit viperNorthern India, northern Myanmar, and China (southeastern Xizang).T. mutabilisStoliczka, 18700Central Nicobar pit viper, Central Nicobar bamboo pit viper Central Nicobar Island.T. nebularisVogel, David & Pauwels, 20040Cameron Highlands pit viper, clouded pit viper West Malaysia (Cameron Highlands), Thailand.T. NujiangLiang, Ding, Vogel, Chen and Wu, 20250Nujiang Green pit viperChina: Yunnan ProvinceT. phuketensisSumontha, Kunya, Pauwels, Nitikul & Punnadee, 2011 Sumontha M, Kunya K, Pauwels OSG, Nitikul A, Punnadee S (2011). "Trimeresurus (Popeia) phuketensis, a New Pitviper (Squamata: Viperidae) from Phuket Island, Southwestern Thailand". Russian Journal of Herpetology 18 (3): 11–17.0Phuket pit viperThailand: Phuket Island.T. popeiorumM.A. Smith, 19372Popes' pit viperNorthern India, Myanmar, Thailand, West Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia (Sumatra, the Mentawai Islands of Siberut, Sipora, and North Pagai, and on the island of Borneo).T. Pretiosus Xu, Nyugen, Wang, Zhang, Wei, Peng, Weng, Li, Ding, Vogel & Poyarkov, 20250Yadong Green pit viperChina: Xizang Autonomous Region T. purpureomaculatusGray, 18320mangrove pit viperBangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, West Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra).T. rubeus(Malhotra, Thorpe, Mrinalini & L. Stuart, 2011)0ruby-eyed green pitvipersouthern Vietnam and eastern CambodiaT. sabahiRegenass & Kramer, 19810Sabah bamboo pit viper, Sabah pit viperSabah, SarawakT. salazarMirza, Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande & Patel (2020)0Salazar's pit viperIndia: western lowlands of Arunachal PradeshT. schultzeiGriffin, 19090Schultze's pit viperPhilippines: Palawan and Balabac.T. septentrionalisKramer, 19770Nepal pit viper, Himalayan white-lipped pit viperBangladesh, India, NepalT. sichuanensisGuo & Wang, 20110Sichuan pit viper Sichuan, ChinaT. stejnegeriSchmidt, 19252Stejneger's pit viperIndia (Assam), and Nepal through Myanmar and Thailand to China (Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Yunnan) and Taiwan.T. sumatranusTRaffles, 18220Sumatran pit viperSouthern Thailand, West and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo) and Indonesia (Bangka, Billiton, Borneo, Sumatra and the nearby islands of Simalur, Nias, and possibly the Mentawai Islands [Sipora]).T. TennasserimensisIdiiatullina, Nguyen, Pawangkhanant, Suwannapoom, Chanhome, Mirza, David, Vogel & Poyarkov, 20240Tennasserim pit viperThailand.T. tibetanusHuang, 19820Tibetan bamboo pit viperChina: Xiang (Tibet) Autonomous Region.T. truongsonensisOrlov, Ryabov, Thanh & Cuc, 2004 0Quang Binh pit viperCentral VietnamT. uetziVogel, Nguyen, David, 20230Uetz's pit viperMyanmar.T. venustusVogel, 1991 0beautiful pit viper, brown-spotted pit viperSouthern ThailandT. vogeliDavid, Vidal & Pauwels, 20010Vogel's pit viperCambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam.T. whitteni Vogel, David & Sidik, 20220Siberut pit viperIndonesia (Siberut Island).T. yingjiangensisChen, Ding, J. Shi & Zhang, 20190Southwest ChinaT. yunnanensisSchmidt, 1925 0Yunnan bamboo pit viper Southern China *) Not including the nominate subspecies. T) Type species.
Taxonomy Additional species that may be recognized by other sources include:
T. barati Regenass & Kramer, 1981. Commonly called Barat's bamboo viper, found in Indonesia. T. fucatus Vogel, David & Pauwels, 2004. Commonly called the Siamese peninsula pit viper and found in southern Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia.
The genus Trimeresurus (sensu lato) has been the subject of considerable taxonomic work since 2000, resulting in the recognition of additional genera within this complex. Most authors now recognise the genus Protobothrops for the species cornutus, flavoviridis, jerdonii, kaulbacki, mucrosquamatus, tokarensis, xiangchengensis,Kraus F, Mink DG, Brown WM (1996). "Crotaline intergeneric relationships based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data". Copeia 1996: 763–773.Malhotra A, Thorpe RS (2004). "A phylogeny of four mitochondrial gene regions suggests a revised taxonomy for Asian pitvipers (Trimeresurus and Ovophis)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 32: 83–100.Castoe TA, Parkinson CL (2006). "Bayesian mixed models and the phylogeny of pitvipers (Viperidae: Serpentes)". Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 39: 91–110. since these have been shown not to be closely related to other Trimeresurus in recent phylogenetic analyses.
In addition, Malhotra and Thorpe (2004) proposed a radical shake up of the entire genus, splitting Trimeresurus into seven genera. Their proposed arrangement (including species described since 2004) is shown in the table below:
Genus Species included Trimeresurus andalasensis, borneensis, brongersmai, gramineus, malabaricus, puniceus, salazar, strigatus, trigonocephalus, wiroti Cryptelytrops albolabris, andersonii, cantori, erythrurus, fasciatus, honsonensis (Hon Son Pit Viper), insularis, kanburiensis, labialis, macrops, purpureomaculatus, rubeus, septentrionalis, venustus Himalayophis tibetanus Parias flavomaculatus, hageni, malcolmi, mcgregori, schultzei, sumatranus Peltopelor macrolepis Popeia barati, buniana, fucata, nebularis, popeiorum, sabahi Viridovipera gumprechti, medoensis, stejnegeri, truongsonensis, vogeli, yunnanensis
This new arrangement has been followed by many,Grismer LL, Grismer JL, McGuire JA (2006). "A new species of pitviper of the genus Popeia (Squamata: Viperidae) from Pulau Tioman, Pahang, West Malaysia". Zootaxa 1305: 1–19. but not allVogel G (2006). Venomous Snakes of Asia / Giftschlangen Asiens. Frankfurt am Main: Terralog, Edition Chimaira. subsequent authors.