Mamushi

Mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffii) is a stout Japanese pit viper with a broad triangular head and a series of dark lateral blotches often shaped like irregular hourglasses. Identification should combine documented pattern, scalation, body form and locality because related Japanese reptiles may be very similar. Claims here are limited to the opened species accounts (Wikipedia, general species account; Reptile Database). Field identification should therefore remain cautious wherever photographs or diagnostic measurements are unavailable.

It occurs in Japan, uses heat-sensitive facial pits while hunting and is venomous. The opened account records medically significant bites, but this description avoids treatment advice and focuses on identification and natural history. Information absent from those species-level sources is omitted rather than inferred from relatives. Japanese occurrence follows the site's catalogue and the opened distribution accounts (Wikipedia, general species account; Reptile Database).