You are here » home search results Crotalus ravus

Crotalus ravus COPE, 1865

IUCN Red List - Crotalus ravus - Least Concern, LC

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Crotalus ravus?

Add your own observation of
Crotalus ravus »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesCentral Plateau Pygmy Rattlesnake
S: Cascabel Enana 
SynonymCrotalus ravus COPE 1865: 191
Sistrurus ravus — BOULENGER 1896
Sistrurus ravus — DAVIS & SMITH 1953
Sistrurus ravus lutescens HARRIS & SIMMONS 1978 (see comment)
Sistrurus ravus — LINER 1994
Sistrurus ravus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 327
Crotalus ravus — MURPHY et al. 2002
Crotalus ravus — VALENCIA-HERNÁNDEZ et al. 2007
Piersonus ravus — HOSER 2009
Crotalus ravus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 193
Crotalus ravus — BLAIR et al. 2018
Crotalus ravus — CISNEROS-BERNAL et al. 2022 
DistributionMexico (WC Puebla, Veracruz, Morelos, Tlaxcala, S Hidalgo)  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesSyntypes: USNM 25050, USNM 25051, coll. C. Sartorius 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (ravus): A subspecies of S. ravus (Figs. 1, 2) distinguished from other races (Table 1) by normally having the dorsal scales in 21 rows at midbody, total prefoveals usually fewer than 3, a large rattle (dorsoventral width of proximal rattle segment usually exceeding 10% of tail length in males, 13% in females), and 2-4 tail bands in both sexes (from CAMPBELL & ARMSTRONG 1979).


Additional details (1873 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Subspecies: Previously recognized subspecies of C. ravus have been elevated to full species status by Blair et al. 2018. Another subspecies, S. r. sinaloensis has been proposed but “the description is woefully incomplete and the locality data are likely suspect” (CAMPBELL & LAMAR 1989: 376). Sistrurus ravus lutescens (HARRIS & SIMMONS 1978) is not listed in WELCH 1994 and not recognized as subspecies by GOLAY et al. (1993).

Type Species: Crotalus ravus COPE 1865 is the type species of the genus Piersonus HOSER 2009 and is diagnosed as follows: “Large plates on the crown including the centre. 21 mid-body rows. Relatively short tail as compared to the snakes in the genus Sistrurus. For Piersonus gen. nov. males have an average tail length of 9.8 per cent of the total body length and females 7.7 per cent of the total body length. In Sistrurus the lateral hook of the squamosal makes an acute angle (45 to 80 degrees) with the main part of the bone. In Piersonus gen. nov., the lateral process of the squamosal is substantially at right angles to the main part of the bone. In Sistrurus, the upper preocular is in contact with the postnasal, the rostral is not curved over the snout, cathus rostralis is sharply angled, dorsal body blotches are square or wider than long. By contrast in Piersonus gen. nov. the upper preocular is not in contact with the postnasal, the rostral is curved over the snout, canthus rostralis is rounded, the dorsal body blotches are longer than wide or the colour is black.” (from HOSER 2009).

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

Distribution: see map in Blair et al. 2018: 352 (Fig. 1). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin ravus = gray-yellow, gray, tawny = yellow-brown; some Latin dictionaries translate ravus also as hoarse, cooled.

S. r. lutescens was named after Latin Lutescens = yellow tinged. 
References
  • Arenas, Carlos Yañez; A. Townsend Peterson, Pierre Mokondoko, Octavio Rojas-Soto, Enrique Martínez-Meyer 2014. The Use of Ecological Niche Modeling to Infer Potential Risk Areas of Snakebite in the Mexican State of Veracruz. PLoS One 9 (6): e100957. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100957 - get paper here
  • 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., Jason M. Jones and Christoph Grünwald. 2011. Geographic Distribution: Crotalus ravus ravus (central plateau pygmy rattlesnake). Herpetological Review 42 (3): 393 - 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
  • Bucio-Jiménez, Luis Eduardo, and Hibraim Adán Pérez-Mendoza. 2016. Crotalus ravus (Cope, 1865). Predation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3(4): 1019–1020 - get paper here
  • Calzada-Arciniega, Rafael Alejandro; Ernesto Recuero, Mirna Grisel Garcia-Castillo, Gabriela Parra-Olea 2017. New records and an updated list of Herpetofauna from Cerro Piedra Larga, an isolated mountain massif in Oaxaca, Mexico. Herpetology Notes 10: 651-658 - get paper here
  • Campbell, J.A. & Lamar, W.W. 1989. The Venomous Reptiles of Latin America. Comstock Publishing/Cornell University Press, Ithaca
  • Campbell,J.A. & Armstrong,B.L. 1979. Geographic variation in the Mexican Pygmy rattlesnake, Sistrurus ravus, with the description of a new subspecies. Herpetologica 35 (4): 304-317 - get paper here
  • Canseco-Márquez, L., & Gutiérrrez-Mayén, M.G. 2010. Anfibios y reptiles del Valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán. Comisión Nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad, México D.F., Mexico, 302 pp - get paper here
  • Casas-Andreu, G., F.R. Méndez-De la Cruz and X. Aguilar-Miguel. 2004. Anfibios y Reptiles; pp. 375–390, in A.J.M. García-Mendoza, J. Ordoñez and M. Briones-Salas (ed.). Biodiversidad de Oaxaca. Instituto de Biología, UNAM-Fondo Oaxaqueño para la Conservación de la Naturaleza-World Wildlife Fund, México, D. F.
  • Cisneros-Bernal, Antonio Yolocalli; Flor Rodríguez-Gómez, Oscar Flores-Villela, Matthew K Fujita, Julián A Velasco, Jesús A Fernández 2022. Phylogeography supports lineage divergence for an endemic rattlesnake (Crotalus ravus) of the Neotropical montane forest in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 137: 496–512. - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1866. Third contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 17: 185-198 [1865] - get paper here
  • Davis, William B.; Smith, Hobart M. 1953. Snakes of the Mexican state of Morelos. Herpetologica 8: 133-149 - get paper here
  • Díaz de la Vega-Pérez, Aníbal H. Diego, Laguna-Millán, Roberto Cervantes-Badillo, Jonathan E. Gómez-Campos and Sergio Ancona. 2016. Nature Notes. Crotalus ravus. Diet. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (3): 742–743 - get paper here
  • Domínguez-Godoy, M. A., R. Barrios-Montiel, A. Bautista, and A. H. Díaz de La Vega-Pérez. 2017. Crotalus ravus. Diet and accidental mortality involving a Sceloporus spinosus. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(2): 426–428 - get paper here
  • Fernández-Badillo, Leonardo; Norma Leticia Manríquez-Morán; Jesús Martín Castillo-Cerón & Irene Goyenechea 2016. Análisis herpetofaunístico de la zona árida del estado de Hidalgo. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87: 156–170 - get paper here
  • García-Padilla E, DeSantis DL, Rocha A, Mata-Silva V, Johnson JD, Wilson LD. 2020. Conserving the Mesoamerican herpetofauna: the most critical case of the priority level one endemic species. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14(2) [General Section]: 73–132 (e240) - get paper here
  • Harris, Herbert S. & Simmons, Robert S. 1978. A preliminary account of the rattlesnakes with the descriptions of four new subspecies. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 14 (3): 105-211 [1977] - 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
  • Illescas-Aparicio, M., Clark-Tapia, R., González-Hernández, A., Vásquez-Díaz, Pedro R. & Aguirre-Hidalgo, V. 2016. Diversidad y riqueza herpetofaunística asociada al bosque de manejo forestal y áreas de cultivo, en Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca. Acta Zoológica Mexicana (n.s.) 32(3): 359-369 - get paper here
  • Kisser, P. 1980. Zur Kernntnis der Klapperschlangen. Herpetofauna 2 (5): 6-10 - 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 2020. A conservation checklist of the herpetofauna of Morelos, with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 941: 121-144 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR 2020. A conservation checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of the State of Mexico, Mexico with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 953: 137-159 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR 2020. A conservation checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico City, with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 951: 109-131 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, Julio A., Geoffrey R. Smith 2015. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. Check List 11 (3): 1642 - get paper here
  • Lind, Craig M.; Amber Clark, Sarah A. Smiley-Walters, Daniel R. Taylor, Marcos Isidoro-Ayza, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Terence M. Farrell 2019. Interactive Effects of Food Supplementation and Snake Fungal Disease on Pregnant Pygmy Rattlesnakes and Their Offspring. Journal of Herpetology 53 (4): 282-288 - get paper here
  • Mata-Silva, Vicente, Jerry D. Johnson, Larry David Wilson and Elí García-Padilla. 2015. The herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, physiographic distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (1): 6–62 - get paper here
  • McCranie, J.R. & Wilson, L.D. 1979. Commentary on taxonomic practice in regional herpetological publications: a review of the rattlesnakes with the description of four new subspecies [by HARRIS & SIMMONS 1978]. Herpetological Review 10 (1): 18-21 - 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
  • Murphy, Robert W.; Fu, Jinzhong; Lathrop, Amy; Feltham, Joshua V.; Kovac, Viera 2002. Phylogeny of the rattlesnakes (Crotalus and Sistrurus) inferred from sequences of five mitochondrial DNA genes. In Biology of the Vipers, edited by Gordon W. Schuett et al. Eagle Mountain Publishing, pp. 69-92. - get paper here
  • Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo & OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 2018. An updated checklist of the herpetofauna from Guerrero, Mexico. Zootaxa 4422 (1): 1-24 - get paper here
  • Parkinson,C.L. 1999. Molecular systematics and biogeographical history of pitvipers as determined by mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences. Copeia 1999 (3): 576-586 - get paper here
  • Peterson, A.T. et al. 2004. A preliminary biological survey of Cerro Piedra Larga, Oaxaca, Mexico: Birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and plants. Anales del Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Serie Zoología 75(2): 439-466
  • Stille, B. 1987. Dorsal scale microdermatoglyphics and rattlesnake (Crotalus and Sistrurus) phylogeny (Reptilia: Viperidae: Crotalinae). Herpetologica 43: 98-104 - get paper here
  • Torres-Hernández, LA, Ramírez-Bautista A, Cruz-Elizalde R, Hernández-Salinas U, Berriozabal-Islas C, DeSantis DL, Johnson JD, Rocha A, García-Padilla E, Mata-Silva V, Fucsko LA, and Wilson LD. 2021. The herpetofauna of Veracruz, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15(2) [General Section]: 72–155 - get paper here
  • VALENCIA-HERNÁNDEZ, Ángel Alberto; Irene GOYENECHEA & Jesús Martín CASTILLO-CERÓN 2007. NOTES ON SCUTELLATION, LENGTH, AND DISTRIBUTION OF RATTLESNAKES (SERPENTES: VIPERIDADE: CROTALUS) IN THE STATE OF HIDALGO, MEXICO. Acta Zoológica Mexicana (n.s.) 23 (3):29-33 - get paper here
  • Vásquez-Cruz, Víctor; Arleth Reynoso-Martínez, Alejandra Vásquez-Cruz, Jorge Luis Castillo-Juárez 2021. New prey records for the Mexican Pygmy Rattlesnake Crotalus ravus (Serpentes: Viperidae) with an update on prey species. Reptiles & Amphibians 28 (2): 335-338 - 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.
  • Werning, H. 2017. Der große Treck – Teil 5. Don’t mess with Texas. Reptilia (Münster) 22 (128): 68-79 - get paper here
  • Woolrich-Piña, G. A., E. García-Padilla, D. L. DeSantis, J. D. Johnson, V. Mata-Silva, and L. D. Wilson 2017. The herpetofauna of Puebla, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(4): 791–884 - get paper here
  • 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
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Crotalus&species=ravus

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator