Dead Specimens Research Articles

Determination of Formaldehyde from Disposal of Formaldehyde Fixed Biological Specimen Buried in Soil

Biomedical waste specifically anatomical specimens and body parts will be incinerated by a local incineration facility. However, the incineration of formaldehyde fixed specimen from hospitals poses hazardous effect to human and environment due to an exposure of highly toxic gases such as dioxins and furans. In addition, this practise is considered as non-shariah compliance by Muslim community. Thus, a safer and shariah-compliance option to dispose anatomical specimens through deep burial has been introduced. The concern has been raised on the side effect of the formaldehyde treated specimen to the environment. Formaldehyde is used widely for preservation of surgical and anatomical specimens. The formaldehyde toxicity specifically on the soil, soil water, soil animals and plants should be considered after the burial of the anotamical specimens. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the side effect of formaldehyde on soil after the burial of formalin fixed specimen on the environment. In this study, the amount of soil elemental distribution and formaldehyde concentration of pre-burial and post-burial of biological specimen were evaluated by using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometer instrument, respectively. For EDXRF analysis at Point C, soil elemental distribution after burial of dead biological specimens has higher concentration compared to before the burial. The concentration of formaldehyde at Point C was higher after the burial of dead biological specimen compared to before burial, which exceeds the tolerable concentration recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Noteworthy records of bats of the genus Eumops Miller, 1906 from Guatemala: first confirmed record of Underwood’s Bonneted Bat, Eumops underwoodi Goodwin, 1940 (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Molossidae), in the country

Two species of Eumops Miller, 1906 are reported with voucher specimens from Guatemala: E. auripendulus (Shaw, 1800) and E. ferox (Gundlach, 1861). Eumops underwoodi Goodwin, 1940 has been known only by recordings. We collected dead specimens of E. ferox and E. underwoodi in a wind farm. Additionally, we provide acoustic data, and an allometric scaling hypothesis supports the identification of E. underwoodi, as it reflects the largest body size for sympatric free-tailed bats. We increase the list of bats in Guatemala to 104 species.

A bright idea-metabarcoding arthropods from light fixtures.

Arthropod communities in buildings have not been extensively studied, although humans have always shared their homes with them. In this study we explored if arthropod DNA can be retrieved and metabarcoded from indoor environments through the collection of dead specimens in light fixtures to better understand what shapes arthropod diversity in our homes. Insects were collected from 45 light fixtures at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG, Guelph, Canada), and by community scientists at 12 different residential homes in Southern Ontario. The CBG ground floor of the CBG showed the greatest arthropod diversity, especially in light fixtures that were continuously illuminated. The community scientist samples varied strongly by light fixture type, lightbulb used, time passed since lamp was last cleaned, and specimen size. In all cases, the majority of OTUs was not shared between samples even within the same building. This study demonstrates that light fixtures might be a useful resource to determine arthropod diversity in our homes, but individual samples are likely not representative of the full diversity.

The problem of marine litters for cultured teleost

Here, characteristics of marine litter ingested by Pacific bluefin tuna (PBF, Thunnus orientalis) juveniles under captive conditions were investigated. Swimming speeds of PBF juveniles with pseud-ingested polystyrene chips were compared, and mortality due to polystyrene chip ingestion in cultured teleosts (red sea bream, greater amberjack, and white trevally) was examined in the laboratory. Marine litter ingested by the PBF juveniles included mainly microplastics. The body size of dead specimens with ingested marine litter was significantly smaller than that of other dead fish. We suggest that when the PBF juveniles ingested the marine litter, they died due to energy exhaustion within a few days. All the examined species ingested polystyrene chips, but no related mortality was confirmed. These results suggest that only the PBF could not vomit or excrete the ingested marine litter. This study indicates that the marine litter problem significantly affects the aquaculture industry, especially tuna aquaculture.

“Draculamya” uraniae: A New Small-Sized Bivalve from the Mediterranean Sea (Galeommatida, Lasaeidae)

A new Galeommatid bivalve is described for the Mediterranean Sea, tentatively assigned to the elusive genus Draculamya Oliver and Lützen, 2011. “Draculamya” uraniae n. sp is described upon a number of dead but fresh and articulated specimens, plus many loose valves. Its distribution is almost basin-wide in the Mediterranean, and it possibly occurs in the adjacent Gulf of Cadiz. As for many members in Galeommatida, we hypothesize that “Draculamya” uraniae lives as commensal upon a still-unknown host. The possible co-identity of the extant genus Draculamya with the morphologically similar Pliocene Glibertia Van der Meulen, 1951, is discussed, although the lack of anatomical and genetic support leaves the problem open.

TaqMan probe assays on different biological samples for the identification of three ambrosia beetle species, Xylosandrus compactus (Eichoff), X. crassiusculus (Motschulsky) and X. germanus (Blandford) (Coleoptera Curculionidae Scolytinae)

Molecular assays based on qPCR TaqMan Probes were developed to identify three species of the genus Xylosandrus, X. compactus, X. crassiusculus and X. germanus (Coleoptera Curculionidae Scolytinae). These ambrosia beetles are xylophagous species alien to Europe, causing damages to many ornamental and fruiting trees as well as shrubs. DNA extraction was carried out from adults, larvae and biological samples derived from insect damages on infested plants. For X. compactus, segments of galleries in thin infested twigs were cut and processed; in the case of X. crassiusculus, raw frass extruded from exit holes was used, while DNA of X. germanus was extracted from small wood chips removed around insect exit holes. The assays were inclusive for the target species and exclusive for all the non-target species tested. The LoD was 3.2 pg/µL for the frass of X. crassiusculus and 0.016 ng/µL for the woody matrices of the other two species. Both repeatability and reproducibility were estimated on adults and woody samples, showing very low values ranging between 0.00 and 4.11. Thus, the proposed diagnostic assays resulted to be very efficient also on the woody matrices used for DNA extraction, demonstrating the applicability of the protocol in the absence of dead specimens or living stages.

Clinico-epidemiology of Hypnale zara (hump-nosed pit viper) envenoming in Sri Lanka

Hump-nosed vipers of the genus Hypnale are the most common cause of venomous snakebites in Sri Lanka. The genus includes three species: Hypnale hypnale, Hypnale zara and Hypnale nepa. Of them, H. hypnale bites are the most common and are the subject of many publications. The epidemiology and clinical features of bites by the other two species have been less investigated. We conducted a prospective observational study of H. zara bites from January 2015 to June 2020 at the Teaching Hospital, Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. Data were collected for 5.5 years in the wet zone of the island, where the principal investigator did assessment of all patients and the data collection. H. zara envenoming was confirmed through identification of dead or live snake specimens brought with the patients. Of the 480 patients with proven hump-nosed viper bites, H. zara bites accounted for 105 (22%), including dry bites (n=5 [5%]) and envenoming (n=100 [95%]), with gender distribution of 65 (62%) males and a mean age of 43.1y. Most bites occurred on the lower limbs (n=71 [68%]) in the daytime (n=69 [66%]) in home gardens (n=45 [43%]). A total of 100 (95%) patients had local manifestations, including pain (n=100 [95%]), swelling (n=100 [95%]), bleeding (n=20 [19%]), bruising (n=11 [10%]), lymphadenopathy (n=10 [9%]), necrosis at the bite site (n=9 [9%]) and blistering (n=8 [8%]). Seven (6.7%) patients showed systemic effects, including acute kidney injury (n=2 [2%]), microangiopathic haemolysis (n=2 [2%]), sinus bradycardia (2 [2%]) and one (1%) each had coagulopathy, thrombotic microangiopathy, Kounis syndrome and ischaemic changes on electrocardiography. Eosinophilia was a significant haematological finding (n=26 [25%]) and 16 (15%) had leucocytosis and 15 (14%) had neutrophilia. Ninety six percent of patients (n=101) recovered. Antivenom is not available for hump-nosed viper bites in Sri Lanka and therefore patients were managed conservatively. This study shows that H. zara bites mainly cause local envenoming and rarely systemic effects.

Ornithological insights from Taylor White's birds

The Taylor White Collection of paintings from the 1700s, held at the McGill University Library, includes 661 paintings that illustrate 832 birds from around the world. With illustrations of 443 species in 30 avian orders, this collection represents a substantial proportion of the bird species known at the time and is one of the most comprehensive and accurate collections of coloured bird illustrations made during the eighteenth century. Most of the paintings were made by Charles Collins and Peter Paillou from live birds or dead specimens in the cabinets and aviaries of White and his contemporaries. We compared a large sample of the paintings with the same birds depicted in modern bird guides to assess quantitatively the accuracy of the illustrations with respect to the colours and patterns of plumages and soft parts. We found that fewer than 3% of the paintings contained errors, and usually only in one of the 28 body regions that we assessed. Given this high level of accuracy, we identified a small red macaw from the West Indies as likely representing a previously unknown but now extinct subspecies of the Scarlet Macaw, and two other paintings of species that could not be convincingly matched to any known species.

Shell density of planktonic foraminifera and pteropod species Limacina helicina in the Barents Sea: Relation to ontogeny and water chemistry.

Planktonic calcifiers, the foraminiferal species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma and Turborotalita quinqueloba, and the thecosome pteropod Limacina helicina from plankton tows and surface sediments from the northern Barents Sea were studied to assess how shell density varies with depth habitat and ontogenetic processes. The shells were measured using X-ray microcomputed tomography (XMCT) scanning and compared to the physical and chemical properties of the water column including the carbonate chemistry and calcium carbonate saturation of calcite and aragonite. Both living L. helicina and N. pachyderma increased in shell density from the surface to 300 m water depth. Turborotalita quinqueloba increased in shell density to 150-200 m water depth. Deeper than 150 m, T. quinqueloba experienced a loss of density due to internal dissolution, possibly related to gametogenesis. The shell density of recently settled (dead) specimens of planktonic foraminifera from surface sediment samples was compared to the living fauna and showed a large range of dissolution states. This dissolution was not apparent from shell-surface texture, especially for N. pachyderma, which tended to be both thicker and denser than T. quinqueloba. Dissolution lowered the shell density while the thickness of the shell remained intact. Limacina helicina also increase in shell size with water depth and thicken the shell apex with growth. This study demonstrates that the living fauna in this specific area from the Barents Sea did not suffer from dissolution effects. Dissolution occurred after death and after settling on the sea floor. The study also shows that biomonitoring is important for the understanding of the natural variability in shell density of calcifying zooplankton.

Morpho-molecular characterization of Discosia ravennica sp. nov. and a new host record for Sporocadus rosigena.

Collections of fungal samples from two dead leaf specimens from Italy were subjected to morphological examination and phylogenetic analyses. Two coelomycetous taxa belonging to two different genera in Xylariomycetidae, Sordariomycetes, namely Discosia and Sporocadus, were identified. The Discosia taxon is revealed as a new species and is herein introduced as Discosia ravennicasp. nov. while the Sporocadus taxon is identified as Sporocadus rosigena. Multi-locus phylogeny based on DNA sequence data of the large subunit (LSU) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal genes, β-tubulin (β-tub) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2) showed that D. ravennica is related to D. neofraxinea but it forms an independent lineage that supports its new species status. The new taxon also differs from other Discosia species by its unilocular to bilocular, superficial and applanate conidiomata with basal stroma composed of cells of textura angularis, elongate-ampulliform conidiogenous cells and conidia smaller in size. Sporocadus rosigena is here reported as a new host record from Quercus ilex from Italy. Descriptions, illustrations and molecular data for both species are provided in this paper.

Lights Ahead: Morphology and Life Stages of the Spotted Tortoise Firefly, Aspisoma sticticum Gemminger, 1870 – Fireflies with a Unique Extra Pair of Lanterns on the Larval Pronotum (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) spend most of their lives as larvae. Nevertheless, immature stages of over 99% of species remain unknown, which gives an incomplete picture of the species' biology. Moreover, fireflies are most diverse in Central and South America, where most species remain known from the centuries-old taxonomic descriptions based on male morphology. Here, we redescribe the spotted tortoise firefly, Aspisoma stictucum Gemminger, 1870 based on immature and adult stages, provide illustration of diagnostic features and an updated distribution map. A definitive diagnosis of adult A. sticticum among congeneric species remains elusive due to lack of comparative studies, but the following combination of traits allow for discrimination of co-occurring species: size large (2–4 cm); pronotum and elytron testaceous with variable developed black spots, pronotum subtriangular; elytron widest at basal third. A. sticticum larvae is unique among fireflies in having paired pronotal lantern spots, in addition to the typical abdominal lantern spots. In fact, these sets of larval lanterns have independent control, as observed in the field and in the lab. Noteworthy, the pronotal lanterns cannot be seen in dead specimens, which stresses the need for field studies towards a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of fireflies.

Pinna nobilis in the south Marmara Islands (Sea of Marmara); it still remains uninfected by the epidemic and acts as egg laying substratum for an alien invader

A total of 12 Pinna nobilis beds were found and studied at depths varying between 2 and 6 m in the south Marmara Islands (Sea of Marmara). Fan mussel individuals in the beds were healthy with a few old dead specimens, indicating that the epidemic, which has devastated P. nobilis populations in the Mediterranean Sea, has not reached the Sea of Marmara, making the region a refuge area for the species. The average density of P. nobilis in the area varied between 0.6 ind.10 m-2 and 24 ind.10 m-2. The P. nobilis shells overall provided substrata or refuge for 14 species (10 sessile and 4 motile organisms), from macroalgae to fish. Shells of juvenile and adult specimens had different species assemblages. Four distinct assemblages were detected on shells, primarily formed by the red alga Gracilaria bursa-postaris, egg cocoons of the invasive alien Rapana venosa, the gastropod Bittium reticulatum and the serpulid polychaete Spirobranchus polytrema.

First report on Mermithidae (Mermithida) infection in Ligidium sp. (Isopoda, Ligiidae).

Specimens of Ligidium sp. (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea) collected from Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan were found to be infected with parasitic nematodes. We have obtained two Mermithidae (Nematoda) by dissecting the fresh specimen and from the dead specimen of Ligidium, which marks the second known discovery of a mermithid infection in the order Isopoda. Herein, a report on the nuclear 28S rDNA and 18S rDNA sequence of the isolated Mermithidae nematodes and on the morphology of the juveniles is provided.

Iris-like eye closure of the fine-patterned pufferfish, Takifugu flavipterus

Unlike many tetrapods and elasmobranchs, eye-closing ability is absent in bony fishes, with the single-known exception of the family Tetraodontidae. We observed the eye-closing response of the tetraodontid fine-patterned puffer, Takifugu flavipterus, which provides the first detailed data on the kinematics and mechanism of this ability in this family. During eye-closing behavior, the skin around the eye converges toward the center of the iris. This is very different to the reversing uni-directional (e.g., upward then downward) movement of the eyelids of other vertebrates. Electrical stimulation of a freshly dead specimen showed that this movement occurs due to the contraction of a sheet of muscle located just beneath the skin around the eye, which is characteristic of Family Tetraodontidae. Eye-closing is accompanied by simultaneous retraction of the eyeball away from the surface, which is initiated just before the skin of the eye begins to move. The eye-closing ability observed in this study appears to have been acquired independently in the Tetraodontidae.

On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galápagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden by Elizabeth Hennessy

Reviewed by: On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galápagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden by Elizabeth Hennessy Karl Offen Elizabeth Hennessy On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galápagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2019. xix + 310 pp. Photographs, maps, diagram, notes, bibliography, index. $30 paper hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-300-23274-5). At the very moment i was asked to review Elizabeth Hennessy's excellent book, On the Backs of Tortoises, titillating headlines announced the retirement of Diego, a giant tortoise and Galápagos centenarian. The papers called him a stud, a sex machine, and a playboy tortoise among other anthropomorphisms. As the lone male survivor of Chelonoidas hoodensis, Diego saved his species by mating with eleven surviving females. Thanks to the amorous giant, scientists developed a successful captive breeding program that led to the repatriation of 8,000 juveniles to their native island of Española. Diego's unique history – which includes being sent to the San Diego Zoo in the 1930s, being returned to the Galápagos in the 1970s as a sybarite tortoise, and his headline-worthy retirement to the wilds of Española in early 2020 – illustrates the distinct role of humans in maintaining the archipelago as a natural laboratory and a living museum of evolution. By uniting thick description with political ecology and multispecies ethnography, geographer Hennessy explores the social-environmental entanglements and contradictions in this fraught relationship, and of our changing predilection toward the giant tortoise and the storied islands upon which they evolved. Once a denizen of every continent except Antarctica and Australia, the giant tortoise was nearly hunted into extinction during the Pleistocene. By the time the twenty-six year-old Charles Darwin stepped ashore at the Galápagos in 1835, giant tortoises existed only there and on an atoll in the Indian Ocean. An active volcanic archipelago located 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, the equatorial islands that comprise the Galápagos take their name from the Spanish word for tortoise. They lie at the intersection of three tectonic plates and the confluence of distinct [End Page 283] ocean currents, fostering ecosystems adapted to unusually cool and dry tropical climates. Today, the archipelago's human population of 20,000 resides on only four of the 13 islands, while 97 percent of its land area lies protected within the Galápagos National Park. Fifteen different species of giant tortoises once inhabited the islands and the differences Darwin observed contributed to his theory of evolution. Darwin's association with the plodding landlubber helped turn tortoises into the iconic reptiles of a lost world (and today both sagely emblazon tourist bric-a-brac). Yet, as Hennessy shows, the "charisma of iconic wildlife is not innate": it is a historical product and culturally situated (p. 14). Indeed, repopulating an "evolutionary Eden" with the appropriate tortoise species was not a matter of simply letting nature take its course, but the result of a complex political ecology. First encountered by Spaniards in 1535, the archipelago was visited only sporadically until whalers began stopping regularly by the late eighteenth century. Like Darwin, the many famished sailors who preceded him alighted to feast on the savory, abundant, and easily captured tortoises. Hennessy argues that rather than discovering a lost world, the Beagle was just one piece of an expanding global economy that united empirical science with imperial expansion that swept over the archipelago while literally consuming its tortoises. The details may have changed today but just as Darwin's activities and those of his compatriots rested on the backs of tortoises, so too does today's tourist industry and its ever-outward capital flows. This is, as Hennessy points out, not the sanitized conservation history tourists consume, missing an opportunity to show how humanity is more deeply entwined with the nature that tourists have flown in to see. By the late nineteenth century, conservation meant stockpiling dead specimens in museums of the global north. These centers of calculation erased the social relationships through which collectors found and extracted their specimens, yet they allowed scientists to refine evolutionary theory and to hone their knowledge of...

Scatopsidae (Diptera) reared from graminoid plants in the Czech Republic, with description of a new species of Swammerdamella

Abstract Ten species of Scatopsidae (Diptera) have been reared from tussocks of 7 species of Cyperaceae, 2 species of Juncaceae, 4 species of Poaceae and from dead specimens of 1 species of Typhaceae gathered in meadow, boggy meadow, alder forest and shores of a pond and a montane brook from 3 localities in the Czech Silesia (Czech Republic). One of them, Swammerdamella jindrichi Haenni sp. n. is described as new. Information is given for the first time on the sites of development of immature stages for several species, notably of genera Ferneiella and Thripomorpha.

A new country record of Smooth-backed Gliding Gecko Gekko lionotum (Annandale, 1905) (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Bangladesh

We report a new record in Bangladesh of the Smooth-backed Gliding Gecko Gekko lionotum Annandale, 1905, recorded from a biodiversity hotspot area at Bandarban located at the southeastern side of the country. A freshly dead specimen was collected and donated to the Padma Bridge Museum for further identification and display. We confirmed identification by comparing morphometric and meristic characteristics with literature records. Gekko lionotum is distributed in Myanmar and northeast India, but was not recorded previously from Bangladesh. The camouflaging color pattern and cryptic lifestyle of this species, together with and absence of research efforts, likely account for the lack of previous records for this species in Bangladesh territory.

Sharply Angled Lateral Curvature Modification in Anal Fin of a Viviparous Fish, Xenotoca variata (Cyprinodontiformes: Goodeidae).

Almost all viviparous species possess male external genitalia; for example, the mammalian penis is an intromittent organ. Some live-bearing bony fish use their anal fins to assist in mating and internal fertilization. We previously reported a male-specific asymmetric curvature at the posterior end of the anal fin in Xenotoca eiseni, a viviparous fish of the family Goodeidae. However, three other goodeid species, Xenotoca melanosoma, Zoogoneticus quitzeoensis, and Chapalichthys pardalis, examined in that study possessed lesser anal fin curvature modifications as compared to those in the anal fin of X. eiseni. Here, we report the second case of acute-angled curvature modification of the male anal fin in the family Goodeidae. We obtained a dead specimen of the goodeid species Xenotoca variata from a city zoo in Japan, and the morphological and histological analyses indicated an acute-angled asymmetric curvature of the posterior end of the anal fin in X. variata, similar to that observed in X. eiseni in the previous study. However, in our previous report, obtuse-angled modification was only observed in one other Xenotoca species, X. melanosoma, and two species belonging to other genera, Z. quitzeoensis and C. pardalis. Therefore, our findings suggest that the acute-angled curvature in the male anal fin has been developed in the genus Xenotoca.

Large-scale spatial biostratinomic patterns along the Eastern Indian coasts: Identification of a generalized siliciclastic beach taphofacies applicable in analogues (paleo)environments

Studies on biostratinomy of modern molluscs are biogeographically (mostly from the Americas and Europe) and environmentally (mostly from subtropical and temperate carbonate settings) restricted, documenting local variation, while large-scale spatio-environmental patterns from the siliciclastic settings are less understood. Here, 8670 dead bivalve specimens were collected from several sandy, sandy-rock mixed, and sandy-clay mixed beach, and beaches associated with tidal flat and sea-grass habitat. Sampling stations were located along a stretch of about 2500 km covering several ecoregions along the eastern Indian coast, a large-scale, biogeographic pattern in biostratinomy is studied. Each shell was assigned seven grades based on shell damages intensities in reference to seven biostratinomic attributes (shell completeness, surface bioerosion, secondary rounding, abrasion, ligament loss, and external and internal wear); the summation of these values indicate the Total Taphonomic Grade (TTG) of individual specimens. Our results suggest, TTG values do not vary systematically with ecological factors (e.g., body size and shape, shell microstructure, etc.), although environmental (e.g., substrate and energy conditions) factors could play some role (e.g., high energy sandy beaches have higher TTG values); no large-scale biogeographic gradient is observed. Based on the characteristics of damage profiles, a siliciclastic beach taphofacies, common in all locations, is proposed: abrasion is the main damage type, whereas, shell fragmentation or biotic damages are negligible. Based on these, a biostratinomic pathway of shells is inferred: after death, shells are immediately locally transported to the beach, reducing exposure time for biotic damages; on beaches, constant swash and backwash cause external and internal abrasion. These taphofacies and biostratinomic pathway models can be used to identify the biostratinomic conditions of analogous modern and fossil assemblages.

Hump-nosed pit viper (Hypnale hypnale and Hypnale zara) envenoming in Deniyaya, Sri Lanka: Epidemiological and clinical features from a prospective observational study

Hypnale hypnale, Hypnale zara and Hypnale nepa are the three species of Hump nosed pit vipers that are implicated in human bites in Sri Lanka. H. zara and H. nepa are two endemic species to the country. The objective of the study was to characterize epidemiology and clinical features after different Hump nosed pit viper species bites.A prospective observational study was conducted in Base Hospital Deniyaya from 2013 to 2015. Hump nosed pit viper as the offending snake was identified when the victims brought live or dead specimens. Species identification of dead specimen was done by a herpetologist. Clinical details were recorded during the hospital stay.83 Hump nosed pit viper bite patients (19–81 years) were studied. Fifty two dead specimens were identified as 39 of H. zara and 13 of H. hypnale by the herpetologist. No H. nepa was identified. Thirty one live snakes were identified as Hump nosed pit vipers and released in to the wild. Envenoming was reported throughout the year. Eighty (96.4%) were daytime bites. Hands (43.4%), feet (55.4%) and arms (1.2%) were affected sites. Sixty two (74.7%) were bitten in tea plantations. All had pain over bite site. Overall, sixty nine (83.1%) had local swelling, seven (8.4%) extensive limb swelling, nineteen (22.9%) haemorrhagic blisters, and seven (8.4%) regional lymphadenopathy. Four (4.8%) patients had incoagulable blood by 20WBCT. H. zara bites had 28.2% haemorrhagic blisters, 7.7% extensive limb swelling and 2.6% coagulopathy. H. hypnale bites had 7.7% each extensive limb swelling and coagulopathy and 23.1% haemorrhagic blisters. None developed elevated serum creatinine. Neurotoxicity was not noted.Hump nosed pit viper bites caused substantial morbidity. Risk factors included day time outdoor activities and occupation. Pain, extensive limb swelling, bite site swelling, haemorrhagic blisters, regional lymphadenopathy and coagulopathy were prominent clinical features. Nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity were notably absent. Clinical features varied depending on the species implicated.