# Gloydius

Gloydius is a genus of pit vipers endemic to Asia, also known as Asian moccasins or Asian ground pit vipers. Named after American herpetologist Howard K. Gloyd, this genus is very similar to the North American genus Agkistrodon. 24 species are currently recognized.

## Geographic range

Species of Gloydius are found in Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, Himalayas from Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Korea, Japan and the Ryukyu Islands.

## Species

| Species | Taxon author | Subsp.* | Common name | Geographic range |
| G. angusticeps | J. Shi, Yang, Huang, Orlov & P. Li, 2018 | 0 | Zoige pit viper | China, (Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu). |
| G. blomhoffii | (H. Boie, 1826) | 0 | Japanese mamushi | Japan. |
| G. brevicauda | (Stejneger, 1907) | 0 | Short-tailed mamushi | North Korea, South Korea, and China. |
| G. caraganus | (Eichwald, 1831) | 0 | Karaganda pitviper | Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. |
| G. caucasicus | (Nikolsky, 1916) | 0 | Caucasian pitviper | Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Afghanistan. |
| G. chambensis | Kuttalam, Santra, Owens, Selvan, Mukherjee, Graham, Togridou, Bharti, Shi, Shanker & Malhotra, 2022 | 0 | Chamba pitviper | Chamba District, Himachal Pradesh. |
| G. changdaoensis | L. Li, 1999 | 0 | | China. |
| G. cognatus | (Gloyd, 1977) | 0 | Alashan pitviper | China. |
| G. halys$^T$ | (Pallas, 1776) | 4 | Siberian pitviper | Russia, east of the Ural Mountains through Siberia, Iran, Mongolia to northern and central China, as well as the southern Ryukyu Islands. |
| G. himalayanus | (Günther, 1864) | 0 | Himalayan pitviper | Along the southern slopes of the Himalayas from northeastern Pakistan, to northern India (Kashmir, Punjab) and Nepal. Found at 1524–3048 m altitude. |
| G. huangi | K. Wang, Ren, Dong, Jiang, Shi, Siler & Che, 2019 | 0 | Lancang Plateau viper | Tibet. |
| G. intermedius | (Strauch, 1868) | 0 | Central Asian pitviper | Southeastern Azerbaijan, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, northwestern Afghanistan, southern Russia, northwestern China and Mongolia. |
| G. lateralis | Zhang, S. Shi, C. Li, Yan, P. Wang, Ding, Du, Plenković-Moraj, Jiang & J. Shi, 2022 | 0 | | Jiuzhaigou County, China. |
| G. lipipengi | J. Shi, J-C. Liu & Malhotra, 2021 | 0 | Nujiang pit viper | China. |
| G. liupanensis | N. Liu, Z. Song & Luo, 1989 | 0 | | Gansu, China. |
| G. monticola | (F. Werner, 1922) | 0 | Likiang pitviper | The mountains of northern Yunnan in China. |
| G. qinlingensis | (M. Song & F. Chen, 1985) | 0 | | Shaanxi, China. |
| G. rickmersi | Wagner, Tiutenko, Borkin & Simonov, 2015 | 0 | | Kyrgyzstan |
| G. rubromaculatus | J. Shi, P.Li & J. Liu, 2017 | 0 | | Tibetan Plateau. |
| G. saxatilis | (Emelianov, 1937) | 0 | Rock mamushi | Russia (eastern Siberia), northeastern China and North and South Korea. |
| G. shedaoensis | (Zhao, 1979) | 0 | Shedao island pitviper | Shedao Island, off the coast of Liaotung, China. |
| G. stejnegeri | (Rendahl, 1933) | 0 | Gobi pitviper | China and Mongolia. |
| G. strauchi | (Bedriaga, 1912) | 0 | Strauch's pitviper | The Tibetan Plateau in the provinces of Tsinghai and western Szechwan, China. |
| G. swild | J. Shi & Malhotra, 2021 | 0 | | China. |
| G. tsushimaensis | (Isogawa, Moriya & Mitsui, 1994) | 0 | Tsushima Island pitviper | Tsushima Island, Japan. |
| G. ussuriensis | (Emelianov, 1929) | 0 | Ussuri mamushi | Far east Russia (Primorskiy Kray), northeastern China, North and South Korea, as well as Quelpart Island. |
(*) Not including the nominate subspecies. ($^T$) Type species.
In the above list, a taxon author in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a different genus.

## Taxonomy

Due to the strong morphological similarity, these snakes were classified in the genus Agkistrodon until very recently. However, by 1999 cladistic studies clearly showed that Agkistrodon did not form a clade (indeed, it was not even paraphyletic) and was thus split into several genera.
A new species, G. tsushimaensis, was described by Isogawa, Moriya & Mitsui (1994). It is referred to as the Tsushima island pitviper and is found only on Tsushima Island, Japan.