Horned adder
Bitis caudalis (Smith, 1839)
Status not recordedsnakes
The horned adder (Bitis caudalis) is a species in the family Viperidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults live up to 5.3 years.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the horned adder
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 5.3 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the horned adder live?
Not recorded
Is the horned adder endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the horned adder classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyViperidae
- genusBitis
- SpeciesBitis caudalis (Smith, 1839)
Synonyms Vipera caudalis, Vipera ocellata
Other names and names in other languages (3)
- HoringsmanAfrikaans
- Gehörnte PuffotterGerman
- HoringadderAfrikaans
Relatives of the horned adder
Other species in the same genus Bitis.

Gaboon viper
Bitis gabonica

Puff adder
Bitis arietans
Rhinoceros viper
Bitis nasicornis
Dwarf puff adder
Bitis peringueyi
Namaqua puff adder
Bitis schneideri
Berg adder
Bitis atropos
CompareHorned adder vs Gaboon viperHorned adder vs Puff adderHorned adder vs Rhinoceros viperHorned adder vs Dwarf puff adder
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How long does the horned adder live?
The horned adder has a recorded lifespan of 5.3 years.
What kind of animal is the horned adder?
The horned adder (Bitis caudalis) belongs to the family Viperidae in the order Squamata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Horned adder (Bitis caudalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/horned-adder
“Horned adder (Bitis caudalis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/horned-adder.
@misc{horned_adder_2026,
title = {Horned adder (Bitis caudalis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/horned-adder},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}