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Crotalus ruber COPE, 1892

IUCN Red List - Crotalus ruber - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesCrotalus ruber exsul GARMAN 1884
Crotalus ruber ruber COPE 1892
Crotalus ruber lucasensis VAN DENBURGH 1920 
Common NamesE: Red Diamond Rattlesnake (exsul: Cedros Island Rattlesnake; lucasensis: San Lucan Rattlesnake; ruber: Red Diamond Rattlesnake; monserratensis: Red Rattlesnake)
G: Rote Diamant-Klapperschlange
S: Cascabel Diamante Rojo 
SynonymCrotalus ruber ruber COPE 1892
Crotalus adamanteus var. ruber COPE 1892: 690
Crotalus atrox ruber — STEJNEGER 1895
Crotalus atrox elegans SCHMIDT 1922
Crotalus ruber ruber KLAUBER 1949
Crotalus ruber ruber — CLIFF 1954
Crotalus ruber monserratensis HARRIS & SIMMONS 1978
Crotalus ruber ruber — STEBBINS 1985: 227
Crotalus ruber ruber — LINER 1994
Crotalus ruber — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 292
Crotalus ruber — ERNST & ERNST 2003: 525
Crotalus ruber ruber — BEAMAN & HAYES 2008
Hoserea (Mullinsus) ruber — HOSER 2009
Hoserea (Mullinsus) exsul — HOSER 2009
Crotalus ruber — WALLACH et al. 2014: 194

Crotalus ruber exsul GARMAN 1884
Crotalus exsul GARMAN 1884: 114
Crotalus exsul — GARMAN 1887: 122
Crotalus exsul — LINER 1994
Crotalus exsul — GRISMER et al. 1994
Crotalus exsul — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 284
Crotalus ruber exsul — BEAMAN & HAYES 2008
Crotalus exsul — ZAHER et al. 2019

Crotalus ruber lucasensis VAN DENBURGH 1920
Crotalus lucasensis VAN DENBURGH 1920
Crotalus lucasensis — SMITH 1944: 92
Crotalus ruber lucasensis — KLAUBER 1949
Crotalus ruber lucasensis — CLIFF 1954
Crotalus ruber lucansensis [sic] — STEBBINS 1985: 227
Crotalus ruber lucasensis — LINER 1994
Crotalus lucasensis — SHINE 1994
Crotalus ruber lucasensis — MATTISON 2007: 45
Crotalus ruber lucasensis — BEAMAN & HAYES 2008 
DistributionMexico (Baja California),
USA (SW California)

ruber: USA (California); Type locality: None given in COPE 1892. Smith and Taylor (1950) proposed "Dulzura, San Diego County, California" as a possibility and Schmidt (1953) designated "vicinity of San Diego, California."

exsul: Mexico (Baja California)

lucasensis: Mexico (S Baja California, Santa Margarita Island, San Jose Island)  
Reproductionovovivparous. Crotalus ruber has been hybridized with C. atrox (SCHMIDT 2004). 
TypesHolotype: USNM 9209
Holotype: CAS 45888 [lucasensis]
Syntypes: MCZ R652 [exsul] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (7293 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: partly after McDIARMID et al. 1999. Crotalus atrox elegans SCHMIDT 1922 has been synonymized with C. atrox by AMARAL 1929. AMARAL 1929 also considered lucasensis as indistinguishable from either elegans or atrox. GRISMER et al. 1994 synonymized C. ruber with C. exsul but C. ruber has been given precedence by the ICZN (Opinion 1960).

Subspecies: GRISMER (1999) suggested to elevate Crotalus ruber lorenzoensis to full species status based on an evolutionary species concept.

Nomenclature: Smith et al. (1998) proposed to retain the name C. ruber: “The purpose of this application is to conserve the long used and well known specific name of Crotalus ruber Cope, 1892 for the red diamond rattlesnake (family Viperidae) of southern California, the peninsula of Baja California and some offshore islands, by giving it precedence over the less widely used name C. exsul Garman, 1884. The latter name refers to the rat tlesnake of the Isla de Cedros, Baja California, Mexico, which some authors now consider to be conspecific with C. ruber” [from SMITH et al. 1998]. Hoser’s 2009 classification and nomenclature has been rejected as unnecessary and unavailable by WÜSTER & BERNILS 2011.

Distribution: map for California in Thomson et al. 2016: 261. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin ruber = red, after the reddish dorsal color. 
References
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  • Arnaud, G; R Alonso Carbajal-Marquez, J Rodriguez-Canseco, E Ferreyra 2014. First record of the red diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber) of Coronados Island, Gulf of California, Mexico. REVISTA MEXICANA DE BIODIVERSIDAD 85 (1): 322-324 - get paper here
  • Barry, S.J. & Jennings, M.R. 1998. Case 3012: Coluber infernalis Blainville, 1835 and Eutaenia sirtalis tetrataenia Cope in Yarrow, 1875 (currently Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis and T. s. tetrataenia; Reptilia, Squamata): proposed conservation of the subspecific names by the designat Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 55 (4): 224-228 - get paper here
  • Beaman, K. R. and E. A. Dugan 2006. Crotalus ruber. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 840: 1-17. - get paper here
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