THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Crotalidae  

Panamint Rattlesnake
Crotalus stephensi Klauber, 1930
KROH-tah-lus — STEE-fenz-eye

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: 2024.01.14.14.37.06)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.12 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California Nevada

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a local naturalist.
Crotalus — Greek krotalon = “rattle.”
stephensi — Patronym honoring Frank Stephens (1849–1937), an early California naturalist.

First instance(s) of published English names:
White Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii: Stejneger, Leonhard H. 1895. The poisonous snakes of North America. Annual Report of the United States National Museum 1893(2):337-487); Bleached Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii: 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); Panamint Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii stephensi: 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.); Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchelli: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Panamint Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchelli stephensi: 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:
1930 Klauber, Laurence M. New and renamed subspecies of Crotalus confluentus Say, with remarks on related species. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 6(3):95-144
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.
2007 Douglas, Michael E., Marlis R. Douglas, Gordon W Schuett, Louis W. Porras, and Blake L. Thomason. Genealogical concordance between mitochondrial and nuclear DNAs supports species recognition of the Panamint Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii stephensi). Copeia 2007(4):920-932
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 15:53 CT