My watch list
my.bionity.com  
Login  

Crotalus oreganus cerberus



Crotalus oreganus cerberus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotalinae
Genus: Crotalus
Species: C. oreganus
Subspecies: C. o. cerberus
Trinomial name
Crotalus oreganus cerberus
(Coues In Wheeler, 1875)
Synonyms
  • Caudisona lucifer var. cerberus - Coues In Wheeler, 1875
  • [Crotalus oreganus] Var. cerberus - Garman, 1884
  • Crotalus viridis cerberus - Klauber, 1949[1]
Common names: Arizona black rattlesnake, black rattlesnake,[2] more.

Crotalus oreganus cerberus is a venomous pitviper subspecies[3] found in the southwestern United States.

Contents

Description

According to Wright and Wright (1957), adults grow to an average length of 78-109 cm. Klauber (1997) reports the maximum length to be less at 1,032 mm, with the smallest gravid female measuring 701 mm.[4]

The color pattern consists of a dark grayish, brownish black, reddish brown, or blackish ground color, overlaid with a dorsal pattern of blotches that are rectangular anteriorly, becoming subhexagonal posteriorly, eventually becoming crossbands just before the tail. However, specimens also may be a uniform dark color without any clear dorsal pattern, or the dorsal blotches may be even darker and bordered with white, cream, or yellow transverse rows of scales, or the color pattern may be quite pale with a significant amount of yellow mixed in. A postocular stripe is evident in lightly colored specimens, but not so much in darker ones.[5]

Common names

Arizona black rattlesnake, black rattlesnake, black diamond rattlesnake, brown rattlesnake, Cerberus rattlesnake, mountain diamond-back.[2]

Geographic range

Found in the United States, in Arizona from the Hualpi Mountains and Cottonwood Cliffs in the northwest of the state, southeast to the Santa Catalina, Rincon, Pinaleno and Blue Mountains. Also found at Steeple Rock, in extreme western New Mexico.[4] The type locality given is "San Francisco Mountains" (Coconino County, Arizona, USA).[1]

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 Wright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. 2 volumes. Comstock Publishing Associates. (7th printing, 1985). 1105 pp. ISBN 0-8014-0463-0.
  3. ^ Crotalus oreganus cerberus (TSN 683063). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 1 August 2007.
  4. ^ a b Klauber LM. 1997. Rattlesnakes: Their Habitats, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind. Second Edition. 2 volumes. Reprint, University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 0-520-21056-5.
  5. ^ Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. 2 volumes. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Crotalus_oreganus_cerberus". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
Your browser is not current. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 does not support some functions on Chemie.DE