Protobothrops mucrosquamatus

蝮蛇科；蝮亞科(有夾窩) Viperidae; subfamily Crotalinae (Pitvipers)

150 cm

廣泛分布台灣全島海拔1000公尺以下。

孟加拉國，印度（阿薩姆邦;阿魯納恰爾邦和許多其它地區），緬甸，北/中 越南，南中國（安徽，四川，福建，廣東，廣西，貴州，雲南，河南，湖南，江西，山西，陝西，甘肅，浙江，海南），台灣。

Medium-sized snake; total length up to 150 cm. There are 18-35 (about 27 at mid-body) rows of scales, which are heavily keeled and rough, except for the first or second scale rows. Head is broad, flattened, distinctly triangular, covered with small or beaded scales, and distinct from the neck; body is moderately stout to slender; tail is medium-sized. There is a large triangular pit between nostril and eye, and the supraocular is well-developed. Eye is medium-sized, high on head; iris is light brown to tan dappled with cream which blends well with color of head. There is a horizontal brown to brown black band of diffuse pigment across middle of eye, which in line with dark brown band posterior to eye. Pupil is vertically elongated, oval or elliptical, black, surrounded by well-defined band of yellow. Tongue is dark gray to black, with stem lighter than fork tips. Fangs are large (the largest of all venomous snakes in Taiwan), movable, in sheath in anterior part of upper jaw. Upper head is brown to dark brown, with longitudinal patterns of darker brown of varying intensities; the most prominent among them is the dark band extending from eye to corner of mouth. Sides of head are dirty white to tan. Upper body is light brown to brown with many designs or shades of chocolate to brown black; there is a mid-dorsal series of dark designs, and a lateral one on each side of body which tends to be in line with the mid-dorsal one. The dark designs may have narrow margins of cream or light brown. Ventral head is dirty white to diffuse light gray and may be shaded by varying quantities of scattered black pigment. Ventral body is dirty white to light brown, gradually darker toward posterior part of body; it is conspicuously mottled with diffuse gray to diffuse gray brown spots, which may be square and arranged roughly as a checkerboard or form moderately broad irregular longitudinal lines. Anal scale is entire, and subcaudals are paired.

夜行性蛇類(pitviper)。喜歡出沒在山坡、農田或是廢棄的野外房屋中；由於性嗜鼠類，所以也常出現在住家附近。以青蛙、蜥蜴、鳥、鼠或是蝙蝠為食。卵生。母蛇於夏季產卵並且有護卵的習性。每窩卵約3-15枚，卵長約3.5cm、寬2cm。初生幼蛇約長22 cm左右。在台灣，龜殼花是最兇猛、大膽的有毒蛇類，牠會攻擊移動中的物體，有時候甚至連影子也會被視為目標。假如不幸遭到咬傷，會留下明顯的咬痕；牠所分泌的毒液為出血性毒液，伴隨傷口的是灼痛感，局部亦會淤血、腫脹起水泡。不過就算是在偏僻的地方，只要有簡易的醫療設備與血清及可免除生命危險。

龜殼花、烙鐵頭、筍殼班、老鼠蛇和惡烏子。