This species is most often confused with "T. s. stejnegeri" (q.v.); the two have quite distinct hemipenes, which does not make identification of individuals in the field or in the laboratory any easier without recourse to (a) male individuals and (b) an examination of the hemipenes. However, the two species are not known to have overlapping distributions, at least based on available materials. Also, closely allied to "T. popeiorum" is "Trimeresurus yunnanensis" (q.v.); ordinarily, the two are more easily told apart by the number of midbody dorsal scale rows, 21 in "T. popeiorum", 19 in "T. yunnanensis".