📸 PhotoPhoto: Kim, Hyun-tae · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Short-tailed Mamushi
Gloydius brevicaudus (Short-tailed Mamushi · Short-tailed Mamushi)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Korea's primary snakebite treatment, the antivenom "Kovax," is an antivenom against the Short-tailed Mamushi (Gloydius brevicaudus).
- 💡 Between 2004 and 2021, one veterinary hospital treated 59 pet dogs bitten by snakes, mostly on afternoons during the warm months of May to October; prognosis was good when treated within 4 hours.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Short-tailed Mamushi is a venomous snake living in Korea and parts of China, commonly encountered from lowlands to mountains alongside the Ussuri Mamushi.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
A venomous snake in the viper family, it is ovoviviparous, giving birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Reliable sources with numerical body-size measurements have not yet been found.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Korean studies note that the Short-tailed Mamushi and the Ussuri Mamushi live widely from lowlands to mountains. Reliable sources describing its diet have not yet been found.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is one of three venomous snake species in Korea, listed as "Salmosa" (Korean name) in the National List of Species of Korea, and the freeze-dried antivenom used to treat human snakebites in Korea (Kovax) is made for this species.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 6KLC4
- • iucnredlist.org — 192163
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000059504 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000059504
- • wikidata.org — Q3109274
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Gloydius brevicaudus.jpg
- • pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov — PMC9415592
- • reptile-database.reptarium.cz — species
- • species.nibr.go.kr — general-search
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Beth Reinke · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Vipera berus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.