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Adder

This page refers to the type of snake. For an electronic adder, see Adder (electronics).

An adder is a name for the common viper (Vipera cevus), ranging from Wales to Saghalien island, and from Caithness to the north of Spain as well Australia and most parts of Africa. The Puff Adder and Death Adder are highly venomous and bites can be fatal to humans. The single bite of an adult Death Adder can kill up to three humans.

Common Name  Technical NameGeographic Range
Death Adder Acanthopbis antarcticusAustralia, New Guinea
Dwarf Sand Adder Bitis peringueyi Namibia, Angola
Horned Adder Bitis caudalisSouth Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia
Many-Horned AdderBitis cornuta cornutaNamibia, South Africa
Namaqua Dwarf Adder Bitis schneideri SW South Africa
Mountain Adder Bitis atropos atropos Zimbabwe, South Africa
Puff Adder Bitis arietans arietansAfrica, Yemen
Rhombic Night AdderCausus rhombeatus Africa

Etymology: The word was in Old Eng. noedre, later nadder or naddre; in the 14th century a nadder was, like a napron, wrongly divided into an adder. It appears with the generic meaning of serpent in the older forms of many Teutonic languages, cf. Old High Ger. natra; Goth. nadrs. It is thus used in the Old English version of the Christian Scriptures for the devil, the serpent of Genesis.


Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed