These snakes are responsible for a number of bites in Africa and Western Asia every year.

[4] These snakes are all capable of exceeding 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in total length (body + tail).

[3] Species of this genus are found in Morocco, Algeria and Tunis in North Africa, east to Pakistan, Kashmir and India, north to the Milos Archipelago in the Azerbaijan, Aegean Sea (Greece), Armenia and Dagestan (Russia).

The genus Macrovipera was created by Francis Albert Theodor Reuss (1927), specifically to accommodate M. lebetinus (the type species).

It is now likely that certain subspecies of M. lebetinus will also be elevated to valid species status in the not too distant future.