Echis coloratus
species of reptile
Echis coloratus, known as the painted saw-scaled viper, painted carpet viper, Burton's carpet viper, and by other common names, is a highly venomous viper species endemic to the Middle East and Egypt. No subspecies are currently recognized.
Description
It grows to a maximum total length (body + tail) of 75 cm (30 in).
Common names
Painted saw-scaled viper, painted carpet viper, Burton's carpet viper, Palestine saw-scaled viper, Arabian saw-scaled viper, Mid-East saw-scaled viper.
Geographic range
It is found in the Middle East and North Africa. It occurs in Egypt east of the Nile from near the southern border to the Sinai Peninsula, and its range extends eastwards into the Negev in Israel, Palestine's West Bank region, and Jordan. On the adjoining Arabian Peninsula it has been recorded in Western Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Southern Oman.
The type locality given is "on Jebel Shárr, at an altitude of 4500 feet ... Midian" (Saudi Arabia, 1371 m altitude).
Habitat
It occurs in rocky deserts, from sea level to altitudes as high as 2,500 m (8,200 ft).
The public source identifies “Echis coloratus” as species of reptile. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Echis, coloratus and species.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Echis coloratus”, the useful work is to connect “species of reptile” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 1, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q624097. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1371.
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This entry incorporates text from “Echis coloratus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.