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Crotalus horridus LINNAEUS, 1758

IUCN Red List - Crotalus horridus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Serpentes (snakes) 
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Timber rattlesnake, Cane-brake rattlesnake [atricaudatus]
G: Wald-Klapperschlange [atricaudatus] 
SynonymCrotalus horridus horridus LINNAEUS 1758
Crotalus horridus LINNAEUS 1758: 214
Crotalus atricaudatus LATREILLE 1802
Crotalus horridus — LE CONTE 1852: 415
Crotalus horridus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1472
Crotalus horridus — BOULENGER 1896
Crotalus horridus atricaudatus GLOYD 1935
Crotalus horridus horridus — GLOYD 1935
Crotalus horridus — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 233
Crotalus horridus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 285
Crotalus horridus atricaudatus — DIXON 2000
Crotalus horridus atricaudatus — LOVE 2007
Crotalus horridus — HOSER 2009 
DistributionCanada (Ontario),
E USA (E Texas, E Oklahoma, E Kansas, SE Nebraska, SE Minnesota, S/E Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana without SW, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, N Florida, South Carolina, most of North Carolina, W/NW/SE Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, S Indiana, S/E Illinois, SW Wisconsin, SC Ohio, W Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, S Vermont)

Type locality: “America”

atricaudatus: E Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Virginia Map legend:
TDWG region - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.

NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and this does not always work properly. We are working on it.
 
TypesTYPE(S): Now lost, according to Klauber (1956:35); originally in King Adolph Frideric collection and later sent to the Royal Zoological State Museum in Stockholm, Sweden [NRM (NHRM)], cited after MCDIARMID et al. 1999. 
CommentVenomous!

Subspecies: Pisani (1972) found that characters in C. horridus tend to be clinal and therefore recommended not to recognize subspecies. This was confirmed by Allsteadt et al. (2006). However, Brown & Ernst (1986) defended subspecies.

Type species: Crotalus horridus LINNAEUS 1758 is the type species of the genus Crotalus LINNAEUS 1758.

Synonymy: Kaiser et al. 2013 rejected the generic names Rattlewellsus Hoser 2012, Cottonus Hoser 2009, Crutchfieldus Hoser 2009, Cummingea Hoser 2009, Edwardsus Hoser 2009, Hoserea Hoser 2009, Matteoea Hoser 2009, Mullinsus Hoser 2009, Piersonus Hoser 2009, Pillotus Hoser 2009, Rentonus Hoser 2012, Sayersus Hoser 2009, Smythus Hoser 2009 and synonymized them with Crotalus.

Reproduction: viviparous. C. atrox and C. horridus may hybridize in nature (Meike t al. 2008).

Nomenclature: Hoser’s 2009 classification and nomenclature has been rejected as unnecessary and unavailable by WÜSTER & BERNILS 2011. 
References
  • Allen, E. Ross 1949. Range of cane-brake rattlesnake in Florida. Copeia 1949 (1): 73-74 - get paper here
  • Allsteadt, J., A. H. Savitzky, C. E. Petersen, and D. N. Naik 2006. Geographic variation in the morphology of Crotalus horridus (Serpentes: Viperidae). Herpetological Monographs 20:1-63. - get paper here
  • Anderson, Corey Devin and Michael S. Rosenberg 2011. Variation in Association with Anthropogenic Habitat Edges Exhibited by the Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) in St. Louis County, Missouri Journal of Herpetology 45 (1): 50-55. - get paper here
  • Beaman, K.R. & Hayes, W.K. 2008. Rattlesnakes: Research Trends and Annotated Checklist. In: Hayes et al. (eds), The biology of rattlesnakes. Loma Linda University Press, pp. 5-16
  • Beaupre, Steven J. and Frederic Zaidan 2012. Digestive Performance in the Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) with Reference to Temperature Dependence and Bioenergetic Cost of Growth Journal of Herpetology 46 (4): 637-642. - get paper here
  • Boundy, Jeff; Frank T. Burbrink, Jonathan A. Campbell, Brian I. Crother, Kevin de Queiroz, Darrel R. 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. SSAR, 101 pp.
  • Braswell, A.L.; Palmer, W.M. & Beane, J.C. 2003. Venomous Snakes of North Carolina. North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, 31 pp.
  • Brown & Ernst 1986. Brimleyana 12: 57-74
  • Brown, William S. 1995. Heterosexual groups and the mating season in a northern population of timber rattlesnakes, Crotalus horridus Herpetological Natural History 3 (2): 127-133
  • Bushar, Lauretta M.;Reinert, Howard K.;Gelbert, Larry 1998. Genetic variation and gene flow within and between local populations of the Timber Rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus Copeia 1998 (2): 411-422 - get paper here
  • Clark, R.W.; Brown, W.S.; STechert, R. & Zamudio, K.R. 2008. Integrating individual behaviour and landscape genetics: the population structure of timber rattlesnake hibernacula. Molecular Ecology 17: 719–730
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  • Collins, J.T. & Collins, S.L. 2009. A pocket guide to Kansas snakes, 2nd ed. Great Plains Nature Center, Wichita, 69 pp.
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  • Duméril, A. M. C., BIBRON, G. & DUMÉRIL, A. H. A., 1854. Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète des reptiles. Tome septième. Deuxième partie, comprenant l'histoire des serpents venimeux. Paris, Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret: i-xii + 781-1536 - get paper here
  • Dundee, Harold A. 1994. Crotalus horridus (timber rattlesnake). Coloration Herpetological Review 25 (1): 28
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  • Garcia,E. 1896. Los Ofidios Venenosos del Cauca. Métodos empíricos y racionales empleados contra los accidentes producidos por la mordedura de esos reptiles. Cali: Librería Colombiana, xv + 102 pp.
  • Gibbons, J. W. 1972. Reproduction, growth, and sexual dimorphism in the canebrake rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus atricaudatus). Copeia 1972 (2): 222-226. - get paper here
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  • Green, N.B., & Pauley, T.K. 1987. Amphibians and reptiles in West Virginia Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 241 pp.
  • Hoser, R. 2009. A reclassification of the rattlesnakes; species formerly exclusively referred to the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus. Australasian Journal of Herpetology 3: 1-21 - get paper here
  • Howze, Jennifer M.; Kevin M. Stohlgren, Elizabeth M. Schlimm, and Lora L. Smith 2012. Dispersal of Neonate Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) in the Southeastern Coastal Plain Journal of Herpetology 46 (3): 417-422. - get paper here
  • Irwin, Kelly J. 2004. Arkansas Snake Guide. Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Little Rock, 50 pp.
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  • Kaiser, H.; Crother, B.I.; Kelly, C.M.R.; Luiselli, L.; O’Shea, M.; Ota, H.; Passos, P.; Schleip, W. 2013. Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer-Review. Herpetological Review 44 (1): 8-23
  • Le Conte, J. 1852. Observations on the s-called Crotalus horridus and C. adamanteus of modern authors. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1852: 415-419 - get paper here
  • Leenders, T. 2003. Die Herpetofauna von Neuengland - ganz privat. Reptilia (Münster) 8 (42): 43-40 - get paper here
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  • Love, B. 2007. Eine Landpartie. Reptilia (Münster) 12 (65): 14-15 - get paper here
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  • Meik, Jesse M and André Pires-daSilva 2009. Evolutionary morphology of the rattlesnake style. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2009, 9:35 - get paper here
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  • Purser, P.A. 2005. Crotalus horridus: the ghosts of a vanishing race. Reptilia (GB) (39): 56-61 - get paper here
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  • Skubowius, B. 2010. New Jersey – Mit „Fieldherpern“ und „Pineys“ auf der Suche nach der Nördlichen Kiefernnatter (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus). Reptilia (Münster) 15 (84): 52-60 - get paper here
  • Skubowius, Bernd 2009. Kleine vergleichende Ökologie der Waldklapperschlangen Crotalus horridus (Linnaeus, 1758) anhand zweier disjunkter Populationen in New Jersey/USA. Ophidia 3 (2) - get paper here
  • Stewart, Margaret M.;Larson, Gary E.;Matthews, Thomas H. 1960. Morphological variation in a litter of timber rattlesnakes Copeia 1960 (4): 366-367 - get paper here
  • Waldron, J.L.; Lanham, J.D. & Bennett, S.H. 2006. Using behaiorally-based seasons to investigate canebrake rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) movement patterns and habitat selection. Herpetologica 62 (4): 389-397 - get paper here
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