The
type locality listed is "Cape of Good Hope?" and "Madras?" (Madras Presidency [and not the City], India). The former must be a mistake.[2]Boulenger (1896) restricted the type locality to "Madras Presidency".[3]
C. strigatus is
terrestrial, with most of the sightings on the ground or on rock formations. It is probably
diurnal, but its natural history is poorly known.[1]
C. strigatus may be distinguished from other pit vipers of peninsular India based on the presence of small
internasals, the second
supralabial in contact with the
loreal pit, 21 rows of smooth or weakly-keeled
dorsal scales at midbody, and a single row of scales between labials and
suboculars. The common name of the species is based on the presence of a pale buff horseshoe-shaped (i.e., inverted "U") mark on the nape.
Dorsally, the snake is pale brownish or buff-coloured with darker blotches of grey and some white streaks.
Of 12 snakes measured, the mean
snout-to-vent length (SVL) was 24.4 ± 7.04 cm (9.6 ± 2.8 in), the tail length (tL) was 3.5 ± 0.8 cm (1.4 ± 0.3 in), and the weight was 172 ± 10.5 g (6 ± 0.4 oz).[citation needed]
^Ganesh SR,
Chandramouli SR (2018). "On the distribution of Trimeresurus strigatus Gray, 1842 – a corrective note". Sauria40 (1): 87–91.
Further reading
Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the ... Viperidæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor & Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I–XXV. (Lachesis strigatus, pp. 549–550).
Gray JE (1842). "Synopsis of the species of Rattle-Snakes, or Family of CROTALIDÆ". The Zoological Miscellany2: 47-51. ("Trimesurus [sic] strigatus", new species, p. 49).
Herrmann H-W,
Ziegler T,
Malhotra A,
Thorpe RS,
Parkinson CL (2004). "Redescription and systematics of Trimeresurus cornutus (Serpentes: Viperidae) based on morphology and molecular data". Herpetologica60 (2): 211-221.