Babocsay (2004) used multivariate morphometrics to investigate patterns of geographic variation in the Echis coloratus complex. Specimens from northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates were found to be consistently and clearly distinct from specimens from other parts of the range of Echis coloratus. These were described as a new species, Echis omanensis. The new species differs from Echis coloratus in having a longer tail with generally more subcaudals, in often lacking a lower prenasal and subnasal, in having an upper prenasal often fused with the nasal, in the arrangement of the gular scales, and in having a facial band covering more temporal scales.

• Babocsay, G. (2004) A new species of saw-scaled viper of the Echis coloratus complex (Ophidia: Viperidae) from Oman, Eastern Arabia. Systematics and Biodiversity 1 (4): 503–514. (dated December 2003)