How to Identify the Philippine Temple Pit Viper (Identification Guide)

Key identifying features

The Philippine Temple Pit Viper is an arboreal, green-bodied pit viper endemic to the Philippines, identified by its slender build, faint crossbanding, and the group's hallmark features of a triangular head, vertical pupils, and heat-sensing facial pits.

Coloration & pattern

The body is generally bright to olive green, sometimes with a bluish or yellowish tint, and marked by faint, narrow, darker crossbands or speckling that is less bold than in some related temple pit vipers. A pale stripe often runs along the lower flank in males, while females may show a more uniform green tone. The belly is pale green to yellowish.

Head, eyes & scales

The head is broad and triangular, clearly distinct from the neck, covered in small scales. Eyes are relatively large with vertical pupils, and a heat pit sits between each eye and nostril. Body scales are keeled, giving a subtly rough texture to the smooth green coloring.

Size & body shape

This species has a slender, laterally compressed body with a prehensile tail, built for life among branches and shrubs. Overall size is modest, typical of arboreal pit vipers in its genus.

Range & habitat where you'll see it

Endemic to the Philippine archipelago, it is found in lowland and montane forests, often near clearings, forest edges, and vegetation close to human settlements, including temple and garden grounds, where it rests coiled on low branches.

How to tell it apart from look-alikes

Its restriction to the Philippines separates it geographically from similar green pit vipers found on the Asian mainland or other island groups. Compared to the Broad-Banded Temple Pit Viper, its crossbanding is fainter and less bold. The triangular head, vertical pupil, and heat-sensing pit distinguish it from harmless green tree snakes that share similar coloring in the same forests.