One of the 12 vipers on WAnimals
Reptiles · Squamata · Viperidae
Asp Viper
Vipera aspis
Least Concern
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk.
Its name recalls the asp that, in the account of the Roman historian Velleius Paterculus, killed the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, though that asp is usually identified with the Egyptian cobra and the historical evidence for how she actually died remains disputed.
Weight
up to 400 g
Size
60 cm – 85 cm
Life expectancy
20 years
