Tropidolaemus Wagleri: Venomous Snake of Southeast Asia

Tropidolaemus Wagleri is a venomous snake found in Southeast Asia, specifically in the tropical regions of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It's a relatively small snake, typically growing up to 1.2 meters in length.

This species is known for its unique appearance, with a brown or grayish-brown coloration and a distinctive pattern of dark spots or blotches.

The Wagler's pit viper, also known as Tropidolaemus wagleri, has undergone significant taxonomic reclassification over the years.

Its unique morphology and venom characteristics set it apart from other species, leading to the creation of a new genus.

The IUCN Red List classifies the Wagler's pit viper as a least concern species, indicating that it is not currently threatened with extinction.

This species is part of the Crotalinae family and can be found in Southeast Asia, where it inhabits various countries including Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Borneo.

Here's a brief overview of the countries where you can find Tropidolaemus wagleri:

The Wagler's pit viper was first described in 1827 by Friedrich Boie, a German zoologist who named many other species of snakes.

The specific name of the species, wagleri, is in honour of German herpetologist Johann Georg Wagler.

This is a great example of how species names can be a tribute to notable figures in the field of biology.

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Tropidolaemus is a genus of snakes that includes the Wagler's pit viper. It was previously placed in the genus Trimeresurus, but its distinct morphology and venom characteristics led to the creation of a new genus.

The Wagler's pit viper, Tropidolaemus wagleri, is a species within this genus. It's classified under the family Viperidae and subfamily Crotalinae, which are both part of the order Squamata.

Here are some key characteristics of Tropidolaemus wagleri:

The Wagler's pit viper is a forest dweller, typically found at altitudes from sea level to 400 m (1,300 ft).

It's quite a unique creature, as it's nocturnal and arboreal, which means it's active at night and spends most of its time in trees. It remains motionless for long periods, waiting for prey to pass by.

This snake has a specialized feature that allows it to detect even the slightest temperature differences, which helps it detect its prey, such as rodents, birds, and lizards, that pass by.

The Wagler's pit viper is found in a wide range of countries, including southern Vietnam, southern Thailand, and Indonesia, as well as parts of Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

In southern Thailand, this species can be found in the provinces of Phang Nga, Phuket, Pattani, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Tammarat, Narathiwat, and Yala.

The species has a significant presence in Indonesia, with records from the islands of Sumatra, the Riau Archipelago, Bangka, Billiton, Nias, the Mentawai Islands (Siberut), Natuna, and Karimata.

The Western Philippine populations belong to T. subannulatus, while those from Mindanao include snakes assigned to both this species and T. philippensis.

Tropidolaemus subannulatus has a wide distribution in Central Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, while the Wagler's Pit Viper is restricted to mainland Southeast Asia, down to Sumatra and Bangka, West Indonesia.

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The Wagler's pit viper is a forest-dwelling snake, and its preferred habitat is found at altitudes from sea level to 400 m (1,300 ft). This range allows it to thrive in a variety of environments, from coastal areas to mountainous regions.

The Wagler's pit viper is a nocturnal and arboreal species, meaning it's most active at night and spends a lot of time in trees. It's quite sluggish, often remaining motionless for long periods of time waiting for prey to pass by.

Its diet consists mainly of rodents, birds, and lizards, making it a formidable hunter.

The pits on its head, located between the eye and the nostril, are incredibly sensitive and can detect temperature differences of as little as 0.003 of a degree Celsius.

The venom of the Tropidolaemus wagleri, also known as the Malaysian Temple Pit Viper, is a complex mixture of proteins and peptides that play a crucial role in its survival and hunting abilities.

The venom is highly toxic, with the intravenous median lethal dose (LD50) in mice ranging from 0.56 to 0.63 μg/g for female and male venom samples, respectively.

Female and male T. wagleri venoms show comparable neurotoxicity and lethality in frogs, with LD50 values of 38.31 μg/g and 41.77 μg/g, respectively, when injected via the lymphatic route.

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The venom contains various protein fractions, including fractions 6 and 8, which are the major waglerin forms and exhibit potent lethality with LD50 values of 0.063 μg/g and 0.20 μg/g, respectively, in mice.

Protein fractions 1-5, 12-18, and the HPLC fractions eluted between 38-42 minutes were found to be non-lethal in mice even at high doses.

Here is a summary of the LD50 values for female and male T. wagleri venoms in mice and frogs:

The venom gland transcriptome of T. wagleri reveals a complex expression pattern of 41 non-redundant genes, with the BPP/ACEI-CNP gene dominating the overall transcription of toxins, constituting 75.19% of all-toxin FPKM.

The BPP/ACEI-CNP gene codes for waglerin, the most extensively studied venom protein originated from this species, and is virtually exclusive to T. wagleri, representing a unique phenotype not typically evolved by other pit vipers.

The venom of Tropidolaemus wagleri was collected from wild living specimens in West Malaysia, specifically from the State of Perak and the Island of Penang.

The venoms were milked into sterile vials by the author CHT, and then lyophilized and stored at −20 °C until further use.

The collection and use of snake venoms for research purposes were conducted in accordance with the guidelines and protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Use and Care Committee (IACUC) of the University of Malaya, Malaysia.

The protein concentrations in the chromatographic fractions were estimated using Thermo Scientific NanoDrop™ 2000/2000 c Spectrophotometers.

The median lethal doses (LD50) of the venoms and toxin fractions were determined from a serial dose-response study, where the venoms or toxin components were injected intravenously into the caudal veins of mice, or injected into the dorsal lymph sac of frogs.

The de novo transcriptome assembly was achieved using a short-reads assembly program, Trinity (version 2.0.6), where three independent software modules were applied consecutively to process the sequenced reads (termed RNA-seqs).

Reverse-phase HPLC of venom samples is a crucial step in understanding the composition of snake venoms. The technique was used to analyze the venoms of Tropidolaemus wagleri from different locations.

Six female and four male T. wagleri from Perak were analyzed, while four male and six female specimens from Penang were also studied. In addition, six female T. wagleri from Sumatra and one female Tropidolaemus subannulatus from Kalimantan were included in the comparative study.

The venoms were milked from the snakes and lyophilized, then stored at -20°C until further analysis. The samples were then analyzed using reverse-phase HPLC on a Lichrosphere RP100 C18 column.

The results showed a single-peak fraction eluted between 38-42 minutes for male T. wagleri venom. This suggests that the venom composition may vary between male and female snakes.

Figure 3 is a multiple sequence alignment of protein-coding regions in the precursor gene of waglerin from two specific snake species.

The alignment includes the precursor gene of waglerin from Tropidolaemus wagleri, Tropidolaemus subannulatus, and the BPP/ACEI-CNP gene from Lachesis muta muta.

Tropidolaemus spp. have waglerin/waglerin-like peptide-coding regions, which are not present in L. m. muta.

These peptide-coding regions are highly homologous in Tropidolaemus spp., indicating a strong genetic similarity.

L. m. muta, on the other hand, evolves multiple bradykinin-potentiating peptides (BPPs) and a bradykinin-inhibiting peptide (BIP).

The color intensity of amino acid residues in the alignment indicates the degrees of homology between the different genes.

The BPPs and BIP in L. m. muta are not present in Tropidolaemus spp., highlighting the genetic differences between these species.

The signal peptides and C-type natriuretic peptides are highly homologous across all three genes, showing a strong conservation of function.

This alignment provides valuable insights into the genetic relationships between these snake species and their venom components.

To annotate transcripts, researchers use tools like BLASTx to search for the most resembling sequences in the NR protein database. This helps identify the functions of the transcripts.

Transcripts with an FPKM value of more than 1 are recruited for categorization into three groups: toxins, non-toxins, and unidentified groups.

The average FPKM of each transcript in a group indicates the redundancy value of gene expression, which can be a useful metric for understanding the complexity of the transcriptome.

Transcripts are further validated by subjecting the amino acid sequences to the BLASTp suite analysis available in the NCBI and UniProt database platforms. This helps confirm the identities of the transcripts.

The Serpentes database is used in the search analysis, and the sequence identity is validated based on the E-score value and percentage of sequence similarity within the Viperidae family.

Transcripts are functionally categorized according to venom protein families based on proteins matched and abundances, allowing researchers to understand the composition of the venom.

Non-redundant transcripts at the longest possible length are obtained and clustered into two classes of transcripts: clusters and singletons.

The venom gland transcriptome of Tropidolaemus wagleri is quite unique, with a high percentage of transcripts coding for the BPP/ACEI-CNP gene, which produces the most extensively studied venom protein, waglerin.

This gene is virtually exclusive to T. wagleri, making it a distinct phenotype not typically seen in other pit vipers. The BPP/ACEI-CNP transcripts are also the most abundantly expressed, making up a significant portion of the venom gland's transcriptome.

Other toxins present in the venom gland are derived from protein families shared across various lineages of hemotoxic pit vipers. These include enzymes like SVMPs, SVSPs, phospholipases A2, and L-amino acid oxidase.

Non-enzymatic C-type lectins, or snaclecs, and vascular endothelial growth factors are also present. However, the amounts of transcripts transcribed and proteins translated do not always correlate exactly.

This discrepancy is due to factors like dynamic regulation of gene expression, differences in mRNA synthesis rates and half-lives, and the effects of post-translational modification.

Tropidolaemus wagleri is a venomous snake found in Southeast Asia, with a highly toxic venom that can cause respiratory failure.

The venom of Tropidolaemus wagleri contains a powerful neurotoxin that can cause respiratory failure in humans, making it a serious threat to public health.

The snake's venom is highly potent, with a single bite capable of delivering a lethal dose of neurotoxin.

In the wild, Tropidolaemus wagleri is a solitary animal, only coming together with others of its species during mating season.

Its diet consists mainly of small mammals, birds, and lizards, which it hunts using its sharp fangs and agility.

The snake's habitat ranges from tropical forests to grasslands, and it is commonly found in areas with high humidity and warm temperatures.

Tropidolaemus wagleri is an important part of its ecosystem, serving as a predator that helps to control the population of small mammals and birds.

However, its venomous nature makes it a snake to be avoided, and its habitat is often threatened by human activities such as deforestation and agriculture.