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Crotalus viridis



Crotalus viridis

Hopi rattlesnake, C. v. nuntius
Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae
Genus: Crotalus
Species: C. viridis
Binomial name
Crotalus viridis
(Rafinesque, 1818)
Synonyms
  • Crotalinus viridis - Rafinesque, 1818
  • Crotalurus viridis - Rafinesque, 1820
  • Crotalus confluentus - Say In James, 1823
  • Crotalus Lecontei - Hallowell, 1852
  • C[audisona]. confluenta - Cope, 1867
  • [Caudisona confluenta] Var. confluenta - Cope, 1867
  • [Caudisona confluenta] Var. lecontei - Cope, 1867
  • Crotalus confluentus var. pulverulentus - Cope, 1883
  • Crotalus confluentus var. confluentus - Cope, 1883
  • Crotalus confluentus confluentus - Cope, 1892
  • Crotalus confluentus lecontei - Cope, 1892
  • Crotalus viridis viridis - Klauber, 1936[1]
Common names: prairie rattlesnake,[2] western rattlesnake,[3] plains rattlesnake,[4] more.

Crotalus viridis is a venomous pitviper species of native to the western United States, southwestern Canada, and northern Mexico. Two subspecies are recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.[2]

Contents

Description

This species commonly grows to more than 100 cm in length. The maximum recorded size is 151.5 cm (Klauber, 1937). In Montana, specimens occasionally exceed 120 cm in length; Klauber (1972) mentioned that the species reaches its maximum size in this region.[5]

Common names

Prairie rattlesnake,[2][4] western rattlesnake,[3] plains rattlesnake, black rattler, common rattlesnake, confluent rattlesnake, Great Basin rattlesnake, large prairie rattlesnake, Missouri rattlesnake, rattlesnake of the prairies, spotted rattlesnake.[4]

Geographic range

Found in North America over much of the Great Plains, from southern Canada south through the United States to northern Mexico. In Canada it occurs in Alberta and Saskatchewan; in the USA in eastern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, extreme eastern Arizona; in Mexico in northern Coahuila and northwestern Chihuahua. Its vertical range from 100 m near the Rio Grande River to over 2,775 m elevation in Wyoming.[5]

The type locality is described as "the Upper Missouri" (Valley, USA). An endemnation was proposed by Smith and Taylor (1950) to "Gross, Boyd County, Nebraska."[1]

Conservation status

This species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (v3.1, 2001).[6] Species are listed as such due to their wide distribution, presumed large population, or because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category. The population trend is stable. Year assessed: 2006.[7]

Subspecies

Subspecies[2] Authority[2] Common name[2] Geographic range[8]
C. v. nuntius Klauber, 1935 Hopi rattlesnake The United States from northeastern and north-central Arizona, from the New Mexican line to Cateract Creek, including the Little Colorado River basin, the southern section of the Apache Indian Reservation, the Hopi Reservation, and the Coconino Plateau from the southern rim of the Grand Canyon to U.S. Highway 66 in the south.
C. v. viridis (Rafinesque, 1818) Prairie rattlesnake North American Great Plains from the Rocky Mountains to long. 96° W. and from southern Canada to extreme northern Mexico, including southwestern Saskatchewan, southeastern Alberta, Idaho in the Lemhi Valley, Montana east of the higher Rockies, southwestern North Dakota, west, central and extreme southeastern South Dakota, western Iowa, central and western Nebraska, Wyoming except for the Rockies, Colorado, central and western Kansas, Oklahoma, extreme southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, New Mexico, western and southwestern Texas, northeastern Sonora, northern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. ^ a b c d e f Crotalus viridis (TSN 174319). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 28 November 2006.
  3. ^ a b Crotalus (TSN 174305). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 28 November 2006.
  4. ^ a b c Wright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. Comstock Publishing Associates. (7th printing, 1985). 1105 pp. ISBN 0-8014-0463-0.
  5. ^ a b Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
  6. ^ Crotalus viridis at the IUCN Red List. Accessed 1 September 2007.
  7. ^ 2001 Categories & Criteria (version 3.1) at the IUCN Red List. Accessed 13 September 2007.
  8. ^ Klauber LM. 1997. Rattlesnakes: Their Habitats, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind. Second Edition. First published in 1956, 1972. University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 0-520-21056-5.
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Crotalus_viridis". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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