Adder

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This page refers to the type of snake. For an electronic adder, see Adder (electronics); for the Russian air-to-air missile that goes by the NATO reporting name "AA-12 Adder," see Vympel R-77, and for the Animals of Farthing Wood character see Adder (Farthing Wood)

Adder is another name for viper. Most snakes called adders belong to the family Viperidae (vipers), particularly to the subfamily Viperinae (pitless vipers). However, there are a few exceptions: despite its name, the death adder is not a viperid at all, but a member of the family Elapidae (cobras, coral snakes, etc.); and the totally harmless hognose snakes (genus Heterodon), members of the Colubridae family, are sometimes referred to as puff adders because of their threat display.

[edit] "Adders"

Common name	Scientific name	Geographic range
European adder	Vipera berus	Europe and Asia
Death adder	Acanthophis antarcticus	Australia, New Guinea
Puff adder	Bitis arietans	Africa, southern Arabian Peninsula
Puff adders	Bitis sp.	Africa, southern Arabian Peninsula
Puff adder	Heterodon sp.	United States
Night adders	Causus sp.	Sub-Saharan Africa

[edit] Etymology

The word was nædre in Old English, which developed into nadder or naddre; in the 14th century a nadder was, like a napron, reinterpreted as an adder. It appears with the generic meaning of serpent in the older forms of many Germanic languages, including Old High German natra and Gothic nadrs. It is thus used in the Old English version of the Christian Scriptures for the devil, the serpent of Genesis.