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Crotalus pusillus KLAUBER, 1952

IUCN Red List - Crotalus pusillus - Endangered, EN
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Tancitaran Dusky Rattlesnake
S: Cascabel Oscura del Tancítaro 
SynonymCrotalus pusillus KLAUBER 1952: 34
Crotalus pusillus — LINER 1994
Crotalus pusillus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 292
Uropsophus pusillus — HOSER 2009
Crotalus pusillus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 193
Crotalus pusillus — GARCÍA-PADILLA et al. 2025 
DistributionWC Mexico (NE Michoacan, S Jalisco)

Type locality: Michoacan, Tancitaro; 5,000 feet elevation  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesHolotype: FMNH 39112; paratype: MSNG 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2471 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Nomenclature: Hoser’s 2009 classification and nomenclature has been rejected as unnecessary and unavailable by WÜSTER & BERNILS 2011.

Conservation: one of the 30 most endangered viper species (Maritz et al. 2016).

Distribution: see map in Blair et al. 2018: 352 (Fig. 1). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “pusillus, -a, -um” = small, tiny. 
References
  • Blair C, Bryson RW Jr, Linkem CW, Lazcano D, Klicka J, McCormack JE. 2018. Cryptic diversity in the Mexican highlands: Thousands of UCE loci help illuminate phylogenetic relationships, species limits and divergence times of montane rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalus). Molecular Ecology Resources 19: 349–365 [2019] - get paper here
  • Bryson Jr, Robert W.; Robert W. Murphy, Amy Lathrop and David Lazcano-Villareal 2011. Evolutionary drivers of phylogeographical diversity in the highlands of Mexico: a case study of the Crotalus triseriatus species group of montane rattlesnakes. Journal of Biogeography 38: 697–710 - get paper here
  • Bryson, R.W. 2007. Fotopirsch auf Gebirgsklapperschlangen. Reptilia (Münster) 12 (66): 32-37 - get paper here
  • BRYSON, ROBERT W.; JR., CHARLES W. LINKEM, MICHAEL E. DORCAS, AMY LATHROP, JASON M. JONES, JAVIER ALVARADO-DÍAZ, CHRISTOPH I. GRÜNWALD & ROBERT W. MURPHY 2014. Multilocus species delimitation in the Crotalus triseriatus species group (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae), with the description of two new species. Zootaxa 3826 (3): 475–496 - get paper here
  • Campbell, J.A. & Lamar, W.W. 1989. The Venomous Reptiles of Latin America. Comstock Publishing/Cornell University Press, Ithaca
  • García-Padilla, E., Heredia-López, I., Villalobos-Juárez, I., Lazcano, D., & Fucsko, L. A. 2025. Notes on the Herpetofauna of Mexico 48: From Sacred to Scorned---A Study of the Mexican Rattlesnake’s Changing Status. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, 60(3), 25-30 - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
  • Hoser, R. 2009. A reclassification of the rattlesnakes; species formerly exclusively referred to the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus. Australasian J. Herpetol. 3: 1-21 - get paper here
  • Klauber, Laurence M. 1952. Taxonomic studies on rattlesnakes of Mainland Mexico. Bulletins of the Zoological Society of San Diego (26): 1-143 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Pierce LJS, Painter CW 2020. The amphibians and reptiles of Colima, Mexico, with a summary of their conservation status. ZooKeys 927: 99-125 - get paper here
  • Maritz, Bryan; Johannes Penner, Marcio Martins, Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailović, Stephen Spear, Laura R.V. Alencar, Jesús Sigala-Rodriguez, Kevin Messenger, Rulon W. Clark, Pritpal Soorae, Luca Luiselli, Chris Jenkins, Harry W. Greene 2016. Identifying global priorities for the conservation of vipers. Biological Conservation, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.004 - get paper here
  • McCranie J R 1983. Crotalus pusillus Klauber. Southwestern Mexico dusky rattlesnake. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles ( 313: 1-2 - get paper here
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
  • Meik, Jesse M and André Pires-daSilva 2009. Evolutionary morphology of the rattlesnake style. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2009, 9:35 - get paper here
  • Muñoz-Nolasco, Francisco Javier; Daniel Cruz-Sáenz, Oscar Jair Rodríguez-Ruvalcaba and Isaac Enrique Terrones-Ferreiro 2015. Notes on the Herpetofauna of Western Mexico 12: Herpetofauna of a Temperate Forest in Mazamitla, Southeastern Jalisco, Mexico. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 50 (4):45-50 - get paper here
  • Reyes-Velasco J., Cox C. L., Jones J. M., Borja M. & Campbell J. A. 2022. How many species of rattlesnakes are there in the Crotalus durissus species group (Serpentes: Crotalidae)? Revista Latinoamericana de Herpetología 5 (1): 43-55 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Wüster, W. & Bérnils, R.S. 2011. On the generic classification of the rattlesnakes, with special reference to the Neotropical Crotalus durissus complex (Squamata: Viperidae). ZOOLOGIA 28 (4): 417–419 - get paper here
 
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