pit viper


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viper

 [vi´per]
1. any snake of the viperid and crotalid families (the true vipers and the pit vipers).
2. a term sometimes used to refer to any venomous snake.
Old World viper true viper.
pit viper any of a family of venomous snakes found in North America including the many types of rattlesnakes (genera Crotalus and Sistrurus), as well as the copperheads and water moccasins (both of genus Agkistrodon).
Russell's viper Vipera russellii, a true viper of Southeast Asia whose venom (Russell's viper venom) is used in blood tests.
true viper any of a large family of venomous snakes found in Africa, parts of Europe, Asia, and adjacent islands, but not in the Americas or Australia; it includes cobras and adders, among others. Called also Old World viper, viperid, and viperine.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

pit viper

n.
Any of various venomous snakes of the subfamily Crotalinae, such as the copperhead, rattlesnake, or fer-de-lance, characterized by a small sensory pit below each eye.
The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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(2005) suggested that Bothrops asper is dominant over smaller and ecologically less versatile pit vipers, often displacing them by means of competitive exclusion.
A prey item not previously recorded for Bothrops asper: a case of ophiophagy involving two sympatric pit viper species/Una presa de Bothrops asper no reportada previamente: un caso de ofiofagia que involucra dos especies simpatricas de viboras
RATTLESNAKE FAMILY: a pit viper with rattles (buttons) on the tip of his tail.
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A one-eyed male was observed foot-flagging and toe-wiggling at a tail-luring pit viper (Bothrops jararacussu), then approaching it.
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Martin in February, learning that AFMC is on the cutting edge of research, considering everything from the latest in robotics, to the heat-sensor ability of a pit viper, to the self-healing capabilities of human cells, in its drive to deliver to the warfighter.
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The experimental treatment carried out in Chicago follows the discovery that blood failed to clot in people bitten by the Malayan pit viper.
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Produced from pit viper poison, captopril dramatically lowers high blood pressure.
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Our sandy soil grows rocks, rattlesnakes, scorpions, and any other pit viper than can slither here.
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In medicine, the venom of a South American pit viper led to the discovery of the system that regulates blood pressure in human beings.
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A pit viper has two heat sensors, called pits, on the front of its face.
Snake sense

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