Asp Viper (Pyrenees' Biodiversity)

Asp Viper

Vipera aspis

Summary ³

Vipera aspis is a venomous viper species found in southwestern Europe. Bites from this species can be more severe than from the European adder, V. berus; not only can they be very painful, but also about 4% of all untreated bites are fatal. The specific epithet, aspis, is a Greek word that means "viper." Five subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.

Range description ⁴

This species ranges from north-central and northeastern Spain , through much of France (where it is absent from the north and the Mediterranean coastal area), southwestern Germany (where it is known only from a single locality in the Black Forest), western and central Switzerland, throughout Italy (including the islands of Sicily, Elba and Montecristo; in the latter is very probably introduced), and western Slovenia. The species has not been recorded from Croatia ((Dušan Jelić pers. comm., October 2008). Records of this species outside of the current range need to be confirmed. It can be found up to 3,000 m asl.