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: Denburgh, Van, 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. Volume 2. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 1476pp.
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: Tuesday 28 April 2026 11:43 CT