Protobothrops elegans is a venomous pitviper species endemic to Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. No subspecies are currently recognized. Common names include: elegant pitviper, Sakishima habu (サキシマハブ), and elegant tree viper.
Scalation includes 25 (sometimes 23) rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 179–192 (males) or 182–196 (females) ventral scales, 63–90 subcaudal scales, and 8 (sometimes 7 or 9) supralabial scales.
During 1965–2011, 2447 snakebites from this snake are reported with one fatality.
It is found in Japan in the southern Ryukyu Islands. The type locality is unknown. Boulenger listed it as "---- ?" while Gray's original 1849 description gives "West Coast of America." A restriction to "Ishigaki-Shima " was proposed by Stejneger (1907).
