THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Crotalidae  

Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake
Crotalus atrox Baird and Girard, 1853

Current SSAR Comments:
Schield et al. (2015, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 83: 213–223) and Myers et al. (2017, Journal of Biogeography 44: 461–474; 2019, Molecular Ecology 28: 4535–4548) found two lineages distributed in the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts hybridizing at the Cochise Filter Barrier.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.05.10.09.31.43)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.82 MB

First instance(s) of published English names:
Atrox (Craspedocephalus atrox: Royal College of Surgeons of England. 1859. Descriptive catalogue of the specimens of natural history in spirit contained in the Museum of the Royal college of surgeons of England. Vertebrata: Pisces, Reptilia, Aves, Mammalia. Taylor and Francis, London, England. pp.); Striped Rattle-snake (Uropsophus durissus: Royal College of Surgeons of England. 1859. Descriptive catalogue of the specimens of natural history in spirit contained in the Museum of the Royal college of surgeons of England. Vertebrata: Pisces, Reptilia, Aves, Mammalia. Taylor and Francis, London, England. pp.); Fierce Rattle Snake (Crotalus atrox: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Cooper, James G. 1869. The naturalist in California. The American Naturalist 3(9):470-481); Arizona Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus atrox: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Texas Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Stejneger, Leonhard. 1895. The poisonous snakes of North America. Annual Report of the United States National Museum 1893(2):337-487); Western Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox atrox: Brown, Arthur, E. 1902. Report of the Board of Directors. Pages 5-22 in Thirtieth Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia. Allen, Lane, and Scott, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. pp.); Texas Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Strecker, John K. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Desert Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Tortuga Island Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus tortugensis: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Western Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Western Diamond Back Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Western Diamond Rattler (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Texas Diamond-back (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Texas Diamond-back Snake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond Back Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Arizona Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Coon-tail Rattler (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Desert Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Spitting Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Diamond-back Snake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Texas Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Western Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Wright, Albert Hazen. 1950. Common names of the snakes of the United States. Herpetologica 6(6):141-186); Western Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Pertinent LIterature:
1853 Baird, Spencer F. and Charles Girard. Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1. Serpents. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 2(5):xvi + 172
2007 Castoe, Todd A., Carol L. Spencer, and Christopher L. Parkinson. Phylogeographic structure and historical demography of the western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox): A perspective on North American desert biogeography. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 42():193-212
2015 Schield, Drew R., Daren C. Card, Richard H. Adams, Tereza Jezkova, Jacobo Reyes-Velasco, F. Nicole Proctor, Carol L. Spencer, Hans-Werner Herrmann, Stephen P. Mackessy, Todd A.Castoe Incipient speciation with biased gene flow between two lineages of the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 83(2015):213-223
2017 Myers, Edward A., Michael J. Hickerson, Frank T. Burbrink. Asynchronous diversification of snakes in the North American warm deserts. Journal of Biogeography 44(2):461-474
2019 Myers, Edward A., Alexander T. Xue, Marcelo Gehara, Christian Cox, Alison R. Davis Rabosky, Julio Lemos‐Espinal, Juan E. Martínez‐Gómez, and Frank T. Burbrink. Environmental heterogeneity and not vicariant biogeographic barriers generate community‐wide population structure in desert‐adapted snakes. Molecular Ecology 28(20):4535-4548

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 30 January 2025 02:12 CT