THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Crotalidae  

Red Diamond Rattlesnake
Crotalus ruber Cope, 1892
KROH-tah-lus — ROO-ber

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.08.12.46.05)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.34 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its reddish dorsal diamonds.
Crotalus — Greek krotalon = “rattle.”
ruber — Latin ruber = “red” — describing its overall coloration.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox ruber: Stejneger, Leonhard H. 1895. The poisonous snakes of North America. Annual Report of the United States National Museum 1893(2):337-487); Western Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus exsul: 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.); San Lucan Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus lucasensis: 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.); Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber: 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.); Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber ruber: 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:
1892 Cope, Edward D. A critical review of the characters and variations of the snakes of North America. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 14(882):589-694
1940 Gloyd, Howard K. The rattlesnakes, genera Sistrurus and Crotalus. Chicago Academy of Sciences Special Publication 4(1):1-266
1949 Klauber, Laurence M. The relationship of Crotalus ruber and Crotalus lucasensis. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11(5):57-60
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.
2006 Beaman, Kent R. and Dugan, Eric A. Crotalus ruber Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (840):1-17
2008 Brown, Tracey K. Spatial ecology, habitat use, and survivorship of resident and translocated Red Diamond Rattlesnakes (Crotalus ruber). Pages in The Biology of Rattlesnakes. Loma Linda University Press, Loma Linda, California. pp.
2024 Hirst, Samuel R, Rhett M Rautsaw, Cameron M VanHorn, Marc A Beer, Preston J McDonald, Ramsés Alejandro Rosales García, Bruno Rodriguez Lopez, Alexandra Rubio Rincón, Hector Franz Chávez, Víctor Vásquez-Cruz, Alfonso Kelly Hernández, Andrew Storfer, Miguel Borja, Gamaliel Castañeda-Gaytán, Paul B Frandsen, Christopher L Parkinson, Jason L Strickland, Mark J Margres Where the “ruber” meets the road: Using the genome of the Red Diamond Rattlesnake to unravel the evolutionary processes driving Venom evolution. Genome Biology and Evolution, 16(9):evae198
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: Friday 05 December 2025 15:51 CT