Merrem's hump-nosed viper, Hump-nosed pit viper, Oriental hump-nosed viper, Hump-nosed pitviper, Polon thelissa & Kunakatuwa (Sinhala), Churutta (Malayalam)
The Hump-nosed viper (Hypnale hypnale) is a highly venomous pit viper species native to South Asia. It is known to cause the highest number of recorded snake bites in Sri Lanka.
The Hump-nosed viper has a stout body and a wide head. The snout is pointed and turned upwards, ending in a hump. The frontal, supraoculars, and parietal shields are large, but those on the snout are small and irregular. The color pattern is grayish with heavy brown mottling, overlaid with a double row of large dark spots. The belly is brownish or yellowish with dark mottling. The tip of the tail is yellow or reddish.
Hump-nosed vipers are found in India and in Sri Lanka. They inhabit tropical dry forests, dense jungle,s and coffee plantations in hilly areas.
Hump-nosed vipers are active during early morning and night. They spend the day hiding in leaf litter and thick bushes. During the sunrise, they may bask on the stream side basking. Although Hump-nosed vipers are slow movers, they are capable of fast strikes. They are aggressive when disturbed and if annoyed will vibrate their tail.
Bites from Hump-nosed vipers cause serious complications such as coagulopathy and acute renal failure (ARF). If not treated within a few hours, bites can potentially be fatal for humans. While not initially included in the list of highly venomous snakes in Sri Lanka, it is now considered highly venomous, and one of the medically important venomous snakes in Sri Lanka and on the southwestern coast of India. As of November 2016, an antivenom is currently being developed by the Costa Rican Clodomiro Picado Institute and clinical trial phase in Sri Lanka.
Hump-nosed vipers are carnivores. They prey on lizards, small rodents, and frogs and also eat reptile eggs.
Adult females of this species bear live young from March through July. They give birth to 4-17 young which are 13-14.5 cm (5-5.7 inches) long.
Hump-nosed vipers suffer from the loss of their habitat and they are frequently killed by villagers.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Hump-nosed viper total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List.
