Which venomous snake's common name honors Scottish naturalist Patrick Russell?

The venomous snake whose common name honors Scottish naturalist Patrick Russell is Russell's viper.

Russell's viper is Daboia russelii, a large viper native to South Asia. Patrick Russell studied Indian snakes and described this species in his 1796 work An Account of Indian Serpents. George Shaw later formally described it in 1797, naming the snake for Russell.

The species is one of South Asia's “Big Four” medically important snakes, alongside the Indian cobra, common krait, and saw-scaled viper. Its genus name, Daboia, is thought to come from a Hindi word meaning “that lies hid” or “the lurker.”

A common mix-up concerns the spelling: the snake is usually written Russell's viper, while the scientific species name is commonly given as russelii, with one “l” in the second part. Russell's viper is also known as the chain viper because of the linked oval markings along its body.