author(s)
Todehdehghan F, Salemi A and Fathinia B

abstract
Presented data are on the morphological characters of medically important Echis viper (Merrem, 1820) from three populations collected from Sistan- Baluchistan (Zabol)-Southeast, South Khorasan (Ghaen)-East and Khuzestan (Aghajari)-Southwest of Iran. Using 6 morphological, 14 meristic and 4 morphometric characters for morphological comparison. Results show the three snake populations are differentiated on the bases of cluster analysis of morphological and morphometric characters (P≤0.05) and populations of Zabol and Ghaen are closely related as illustrated by dendrogram. The number of ventral scales, subcaudal scales, dorsal scales, and the oblique lateral scales in the three viper's population were also significantly different (P≤0.05). On the bases of this study identification key was codified for Echis of East, SouthEast and South West populations of Iran.