Bitis arietans
Puff Adder
Alternative Names
Irhamba (Xhosa)
Imbululu (Zulu)
Lebolobolo (Setswana)
Libululu (Siswati)
Pofadder (Afrikaans)
Distribution: Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Côte d'Ivoire; Eritrea; Eswatini; Ethiopia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Lesotho; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Oman; Rwanda; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda; Western Sahara; Yemen; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Distribution extended:
Type Locality: Cape of Good Hope = South Africa.
Habitat: Coastal Forest, Deciduous Forest, Fynbos, Desert, Montane Grasslands, Savanna, Semidesert, Temperate Grasslands, Thicket, Tropical Forest, Woodlands
Habitat extended: Widely distributed species occupying a range of different habitats. Commonly encountered within proximity to humans both in rural and urban environments.
Natural History: Terrestrial. Locally abundant. Ambush predator that has been documented to perform both caudal and lingual luring to attract prey. Additionally, chemical crypsis further adds to its success as an ambush predator. The species has a generalist diet, and it also predated on by a wide variety of predators.
Biology: Viviparous (generally 20 - 60 young). Mating seasons differ throughout its range.
Conservation Status: According to the IUCN Red List, this species is classified as "Least Concern," indicating that it is not currently considered to be at high risk of extinction.
Additional Information
ReptileDatabase (See here)
IUCN Red List (See here)
iNaturalist (See here)
LITERATURE
Barlow, A., Grail, W., de Bruyn, M., & Wüster, W. (2012). Anonymous nuclear markers for the African adders (Serpentes: Viperidae: Bitis). Conservation Genetics Resources, 4, 967-969.
Barlow, A., Baker, K., Hendry, C. R., Peppin, L., Phelps, T., Tolley, K. A., ... & Wüster, W. (2013). Phylogeography of the widespread African puff adder (Bitis arietans) reveals multiple Pleistocene refugia in southern Africa. Molecular ecology, 22(4), 1134-1157.
Barlow, A., Wüster, W., Kelly, C. M., Branch, W. R., Phelps, T., & Tolley, K. A. (2019). Ancient habitat shifts and organismal diversification are decoupled in the African viper genus Bitis (Serpentes: Viperidae). Journal of Biogeography, 46(6), 1234-1248.
Bates, M. F., Stobie, C. S., & Hastings, J. (2023). An unusual ‘speckled’puff adder Bitis arietans (Reptilia: Squamata) from central South Africa. African Journal of Ecology, 61(2), 501-503.
Branch, W. R. (1999). Bitis arietans peghullae Stewart 1973 (Serpentes: Viperidae): a valid race of puff adder?. African Journal of Herpetology, 48(1-2), 15-19.
Dyugmedzhiev, A. V., Andonov, K., Todorov, V., del Mármol, G. M., & Stanchev, N. (2022). A possible case of syntopy between Bitis arietans and Daboia mauritanica based on new reptile localities in southwestern Morocco. Herpetology Notes, 15, 33-36.
Egan, V. T., & Grant, W. S. (1993). Breeding the striped puff adder Bitis arietans: inbreeding avoidance. South African Journal of Wildlife Research-24-month delayed open access, 23(3), 78-81.
Fizzotti, B., & Alexander, G. J. (2019). The Effects Of Roads On Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) Movement. African Herp News, (72).
Glaudas, X., & Alexander, G. J. (2017). A lure at both ends: aggressive visual mimicry signals and prey-specific luring behaviour in an ambush-foraging snake. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 71(1), 1-7.
Glaudas, X., & Alexander, G. J. (2017). Food supplementation affects the foraging ecology of a low-energy, ambush-foraging snake. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 71(1), 5.
Glaudas, X., Kearney, T. C., & Alexander, G. J. (2017). Museum specimens bias measures of snake diet: a case study using the ambush-foraging puff adder (Bitis arietans). Herpetologica, 73(2), 121-128.
Jacobsen, N. (1978). Colloquial names for southern African reptiles and amphibians. The Journal of the Herpetological Association of Africa, 18(1), 7-13.
Jacobsen, N. H. G. (1986). Growth of puff adders (Bitis arietans) in captivity. The Journal of the Herpetological Association of Africa, 32(1), 19-23.
Lenk, P., Herrmann, H. W., Joger, U., & Wink, M. (1999). Phylogeny and taxonomic subdivision of Bitis (Reptilia: Viperidae) based on molecular evidence. Kaupia, 8, 31-38.
Miller, A. K., Maritz, B., McKay, S., Glaudas, X., & Alexander, G. J. (2015). An ambusher's arsenal: chemical crypsis in the puff adder (Bitis arietans). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1821), 20152182.
Segniagbeto, G. H., Petrozzi, F., Aidam, A., & Luiselli, L. (2013). Reptiles traded in the fetish market of Lomé, Togo (West Africa). Herpetological Conservation and biology, 8(2), 400-408.
Young, B. A., Nejman, N., Meltzer, K., & Marvin, J. (1999). The mechanics of sound production in the puff adder Bitis arietans (Serpentes: Viperidae) and the information content of the snake hiss. Journal of Experimental Biology, 202(17), 2281-2289.
Young, B. A. (2010). How a heavy‐bodied snake strikes quickly: high‐power axial musculature in the puff adder (Bitis arietans). Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology, 313(2), 114-121.