Cerastes cerastes

Cerastes cerastes
Temporal range: Pleistocene-recent
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Genus: Cerastes
Species:
C. cerastes
Binomial name
Cerastes cerastes
Synonyms
List
    • [Coluber] Cerastes Linnaeus, 1758
    • Coluber cornutus
      Linnaeus In Hasselquist, 1762
    • Cerastes cornutus Forskål, 1775
    • Vipera Cerastes
      Sonnini & Latreille, 1801
    • Cerastes Hasselquistii Gray, 1842
    • Cerastes Aegyptiacus
      A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron &
      A.H.A. Duméril, 1854
    • Echidna atricaudata A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854
    • Vipera Avicennae Jan, 1859
    • V[ipera]. (Echidna) Avicennae
      — Jan, 1863
    • V[ipera]. (Cerastes) cerastes
      — Jan, 1863
    • Cerastes cornutus Boulenger, 1891
    • Cerastes cerastesJ. Anderson, 1899
    • Cerastes cornutus var. mutila
      Doumergue, 1901
    • Aspis cerastes Parker, 1938
    • Cerastes cerastes cerastes
      Leviton & S.C. Anderson, 1967
    • Cerastes cerastes karlhartli Sochurek, 1974
    • Cerastes cerastes karlhartli
      — Tiedemann & Häupl, 1980
    • [Cerastes cerastes] mutila
      — Le Berre, 1989
    • Cerastes cerastes Y. Werner,
      Le Verdier, Rosenman & Sivan, 1991

Cerastes cerastes, commonly known as the Saharan horned viper or the desert horned viper, is a species of viper native to the deserts of Northern Africa and parts of the Arabian Peninsula and Levant. It is often easily recognized by the presence of a pair of supraocular "horns", although hornless individuals do occur. Three subspecies have been described.