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Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Crotalidae  

Arizona Black Rattlesnake
Crotalus cerberus (Coues, 1875)

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 See annotations under Crotalus. Douglas et al. (2016, Royal Society Open Science 3[160047]: 1–11) found five lineages within C. cerberus using mtDNA data.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.08.12.46.06)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.29 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arizona New Mexico

First instance(s) of published English names:
Black Rattlesnake (Caudisona lucifer: Coues, Elliott. 1875. Synopsis of the reptiles and batrachians of Arizona with critical and field notes, and an extensive synonymy. Report upon Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian. Volume 5. ():585-633); California Rattlesnake (Crotalus lucifer: 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); Mountain Diamond-back (Crotalus viridis cerberus: Klauber, Laurence M. 1949. Some new and revivied subspecies of rattlesnakes. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11(6):61-116); Black Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis cerberus: Klauber, Laurence M. 1949. Some new and revivied subspecies of rattlesnakes. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11(6):61-116); Brown Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis cerberus: Klauber, Laurence M. 1949. Some new and revivied subspecies of rattlesnakes. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11(6):61-116); Arizona Black Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis cerberus: Klauber, Laurence M. 1949. Some new and revivied subspecies of rattlesnakes. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11(6):61-116); Black-diamond (Crotalus viridis cerberus: Klauber, Laurence M. 1949. Some new and revivied subspecies of rattlesnakes. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11(6):61-116); Horned Rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Mojave Desert Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes cerastes: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Colorado Desert Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes laterorepens: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Arizona Black Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis cerberus: 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

Selected References:
1875 Coues, Elliott. Synopsis of the reptiles and batrachians of Arizona with critical and field notes, and an extensive synonymy. Report upon Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian. Volume 5. :585-633
1940 Gloyd, Howard K. The rattlesnakes, genera Sistrurus and Crotalus. Chicago Academy of Sciences Special Publication 4(1):1-266
1956 Klauber, Laurence M. Rattlesnakes. Their habits, life histories, and influence on mankind. 2 Volumes. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. pp.
1972 Klauber, Laurence M. Rattlesnakes. Their Habits, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind. 2 Vols. 2nd ed. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. pp.
2000 Pook, Catharine E., Wolfgang Wuster, and Roger S. Thorpe. Historical biogeography of the Western Rattlesnake (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus viridis), inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence information
. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 15(2):269-282
2001 Ashton, Kyle G. and Alan de Queiroz. 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
2010 Mackessy, Stephen P. Evolutionary trends in venom composition in the Western Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis sensu lato): Toxicity vs tenderizers. Toxicon 55(2010):1463-1474
2013 Goldenberg, Julianne R. Multilocus species delimitation and species tree inference within the Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) species complex. Thesis. San Diego State Univeristy, San Diego, California.. 81pp.
2016 Douglas, Marlis R., Mark A. Davis , Melissa Amarello , Jeffrey J. Smith , Gordon W. Schuett , H.-W. Herrmann , Andrew T. Holycross and Michael E. Douglas Anthropogenic impacts drive niche and conservation metrics of a cryptic rattlesnake on the Colorado Plateau of western North America. Royal Society Open Science 3(160047):1-11
2024 Myers, Edward A., Rhett M. Rautsaw, Miguel Borja, Jason Jones, Christoph I. Grünwald, Matthew L. Holding, Felipe Grazziotin, and Christopher L. Parkinson. Phylogenomic discordance is driven by wide-spread introgression and incomplete lineage sorting during rapid species diversification within rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalus and Sistrurus) Systematic Biology syae018:

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Saturday 26 April 2025 23:23 CT