Russell's Viper

Description:

Daboia is a monotypic genus of venomous Old World viper. There is just one species, D. russelii.

Habitat:

found in Asia throughout the Indian subcontinent, much of Southeast Asia, southern China and Taiwan. There are plenty of them here in my place in Alathur in Kerala. This one was going to enter my house.

Notes:

The species was named in honor of Patrick Russell (1726–1805), a Scottish herpetologist who first described many of India's snakes; and the name of the genus is from the Hindi word meaning "that lies hid", or "the lurker."Apart from being a member of the big four snakes in India, Daboia is also one of the species responsible for causing the most snakebite incidents and deaths among all venomous snakes (Wikipedia)