Puff Adders
Bitis
Bitis is a genus of vipers found in Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. It includes the largest and the smallest vipers in the world. Members are known for their characteristic threat displays that involve inflating and deflating their bodies while hissing and puffing loudly. The type species for this genus is B. arietans, which is also the most widely distributed viper in Africa. Currently, 18 species are recognized.
Members of the genus are commonly known as African adders, African vipers, or puff adders.
19 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 18 known species
Puff Adder
speciesBitis arietans
Horned Adder
speciesBitis caudalis
Berg Adder
speciesBitis atropos
Gaboon Viper
speciesBitis gabonica
Peringuey's Adder
speciesBitis peringueyi
Western Gaboon Viper
speciesBitis rhinoceros
Rhinoceros Viper
speciesBitis nasicornis
Many-horned Adder
speciesBitis cornuta
Red Adder
speciesBitis rubida
Namaqua Dwarf Adder
speciesBitis schneideri
Southern Adder
speciesBitis armata
Ethiopia Viper
speciesBitis parviocula
Desert Mountain Adder
speciesBitis xeropaga
Albany Adder
speciesBitis albanica
Plain Mountain Adder
speciesBitis inornata
Kenya Horned Viper
speciesBitis worthingtoni
Bitis caudalis × peringueyi
hybridBitis caudalis × peringueyi
Bale Mountains Adder
speciesBitis harenna
Angolan adder
speciesBitis heraldica
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
Books on Marine Fishes
Guillaume Rondelet · 1554 · p.844
History of Animals, Book II: On Oviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1586 · p.660
History of Animals, Book II: On Oviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1586 · p.660
History of Animals, Book II: On Oviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1586 · p.661
History of Animals, Book II: On Oviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1586 · p.369
De Piscibus Libri V et De Cetis Liber Unus
Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1661 · p.676
De Piscibus Libri V et De Cetis Liber Unus
Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1661 · p.677
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Bitis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 30850.