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Crotalus cerberus (COUES, 1875)

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Arizona Black Rattlesnake
G: Schwarze Arizona-Klapperschlange 
SynonymCaudisona lucifer var. cerberus COUES 1875: 607
Crotalus viridis cerberus — KLAUBER 1949
Crotalus viridis cerberus — JONES et al. 1981
Crotalus viridis cerberus — STEBBINS 1985: 231
Crotalus viridis cerberus — CROTHER 2000: 60
Crotalus oreganus cerberus — ASHTON et al. 2001
Crotalus viridis cerberus — POOK et al. 2002
Crotalus cerberus — DOUGLAS et a. 2002
Crotalus oreganus cerberus — CAMPBELL & LAMAR 2004
Crotalus cerberus — BEAMAN & HAYES 2008
Crotalus cerberus — HOSER 2009
Crotalus cerberus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 189
Crotalus cerberus — DAVIS et al. 2016 
DistributionUSA (C Arizona to W New Mexico)

Type locality: San Francisco Mountains, Coconino County, Arizona.  
Reproductionviviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesSyntypes: ANSP 7085-88 (more details in MCDIARMID et al. 1999: 298). 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1404 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentPook et al. (2002) found that cerberus is genetically isolated from other viridis and thus may be considered as a separate species or as divergent subspecies of viridis.

Nomenclature: Hoser’s 2009 classification and nomenclature has been rejected as unnecessary and unavailable by WÜSTER & BERNILS 2011. 
EtymologyThe species was apparently named after the Greek “kerberos”, the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to hades in Greek mythology (also indicated by the original name Caudisona lucifer var. cerberus). 
References
  • Ashton, Kyle G.; de Queiroz, Alan 2001. Molecular systematics of the Western Rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis (Viperidae), with comments on the utility of the D-Loop in phylogenetic studies of snakes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 21(2):176-189. - 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
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Bezy, Robert L. and Charles J. Cole 2014. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Madrean Archipelago of Arizona and New Mexico. American Museum Novitates (3810): 1-24 - get paper here
  • Campbell, J.A. & Lamar, W.W. 1989. The Venomous Reptiles of Latin America. Comstock Publishing/Cornell University Press, Ithaca
  • Coues, Elliott 1875. Synopsis of the Reptiles and Batrachians of Arizona; with critical and field notes, and an extensive synonymy. Chapter IV. Reports upon the Collections Obtained from Portions of Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, during the Report upon Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian. Volume V. Zoology: : 509-633 + 10 lithographic plates (3 are chromolithographs) - get paper here
  • Crother, B. I. 2000. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. Herpetological Circular 29: 1-82
  • Davis MA, Douglas MR, Collyer ML, Douglas ME 2016. Deconstructing a Species-Complex: Geometric Morphometric and Molecular Analyses Define Species in the Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis). PLoS One 11 (1): e0146166.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0146166 - get paper here
  • Douglas, Michael E.; Douglas, Marlis R.; Schuett, Gordon W.; Porras, Louis W.; Holycross, Andrew T. 2002. Phylogeography of the western rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) complex, with emphasis on the Colorado Plateau. In Biology of the Vipers, edited by Gordon W. Schuett et al. Eagle Mountain Publishing, pp. 11-50.
  • FLESCH, AARON D.; DON E. SWANN, DALE S. TURNER, AND BRIAN F. POWELL 2010. HERPETOFAUNA OF THE RINCON MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. Southwestern Naturalist 55(2):240–253 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Jones, K.B.; Abbas, D.R. & Bergstedt, T. 1981. Herpetological records from Central and Northeastern Arizona. Herpetological Review 12 (1): 16 - get paper here
  • Klauber, Laurence M. 1949. Some new and revived subspecies of rattlesnakes. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11 (6): 61-116 - get paper here
  • Lillywhite, Harvey B. 2014. How Snakes Work: Structure, Function and Behavior of the World's Snakes. Oxford University Press, New York, 256 pp
  • Mocarski, Zenon R. and Randall D. Babb. 2015. Geographic Distribution: Crotalus cerberus (Arizona black rattlesnake). Herpetological Review 46 (1): 61 - get paper here
  • Pook, Catherine E., Wolfgang Wüster and Roger S. Thorpe 2000. Historical biogeography of the western rattlesnake (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus viridis), inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence information. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 15(2):269-282. - get paper here
  • Repp, R. 2010. Herping Arizona—August 2009—Black Velvet. Sonoran Herpetologist 23 (8):108-115. - get paper here
  • Robert L. Bezy 2021. Biogeographic Outliers in the Arizona Herpetofauna. Sonoran Herpetologist 34 (2): 49 - get paper here
  • Schield, Drew R; Blair W Perry, Richard H Adams, Daren C Card, Tereza Jezkova, Giulia I M Pasquesi, Zachary L Nikolakis, Kristopher Row, Jesse M Meik, Cara F Smith, Stephen P Mackessy, Todd A Castoe 2019. Allopatric divergence and secondary contact with gene flow: a recurring theme in rattlesnake speciation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 128, Issue 1, September 2019, Pages 149–169, - get paper here
  • Skubowius, Bernd 2012. Some encounter with the Arizona Black Rattlesnake Crotalus cerberus (Coues, 1875). Litteratura Serpentium 32 (4): 165-175 - get paper here
  • Spinner, L. 2017. Die Klapperschlangen der USA in Natur und Terrarium. Reptilia (Münster) 22 (124): 18-33 - get paper here
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Vogrinc, Philip N., Files, Tyler and Berven, Jenny 2017. Crotalus cerberus (Arizona Black Rattlesnake) Diet. Herpetological Review 48 (1): 207-208 - 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, Heiko 2012. Die Reptilien und Amphibien des Südwestens. Draco 13 (50): 18-60 - 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
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
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