Edged head rattlesnake
| Edged head rattlesnake | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Edged rattlesnake ( Crotalus willardi ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Crotalus willardi | ||||||||||||
| Meek , 1906 |
The edged rattlesnake ( Crotalus willardi ), also Willard's rattlesnake , is a species of rattlesnake ( Crotalus ), the range of which stretches from southern Arizona and New Mexico along the Mexican Sierra Madre Occidental to southern Zacatecas .
features
The edged head rattlesnake is a relatively small rattlesnake with an average body length of about 50 centimeters, which in rare cases can also be 60 centimeters long. The shape of the head of the snake as well as its drawing, which is very different from that of other rattlesnake species, is characteristic. It is named after a sharp edge along the sides of the head from the eyes to the muzzle, which results from the erect scales of this head region. On the sides of the head, two light lines, mostly white, with a light brown space parallel to the cleft of the mouth run along.
The typical basic color is rusty brown or gray, the pattern consists of large rectangular and dark spots, which are bordered by a black or dark brown line from and behind. The spaces between the spots are lighter to white, so that a secondary drawing of light transverse bars is created.
distribution and habitat
.jpg)
The range of the snake begins in the area of the Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains in southern Arizona and the Animas Mountains in New Mexico . From here it moves south over the Mexican border and there along the Sierra Madre Occidental to the southwestern Zacatecas .
The snake's habitat is dominated by pine-oak forests at an altitude of 1,600 to 2,750 meters. They prefer grassy clearings and moist microhabitats in the canyons .
Snake venom
No information is available on the specific effects of the poison of this type.
Systematics
There are currently 5 subspecies of the forest rattlesnake:
- C. w. amabilis in the Sierra del Nido in northern Chihuahua , Mexico
- C. w. meridionalis in the mountain ranges of the states of Durango and Zacatecas
- C. w. obscurus in the Animas and Peloncillo Mountains of New Mexico
- C. w. silus in the mountainous regions of northeastern Sonora and western Chihuahua
- C. w. willardi in the Huachuca, Patagonia, and Santa Rita Mountains of southeast Alabama and northern Sonora, Mexico.
literature
- Chris Mattison: Rattlers! - A natural history of rattlesnakes. Blandford, London 1996; Pp. 130-131; ISBN 0-7137-2534-6
Web links
- Crotalus willardi in The Reptile Database
- Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum : Arizona Ridgenose Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi willardi) (PDF; 757 kB); Bibliography on the last pages
- Crotalus willardi inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Hammerson, GA, Vazquez Díaz, J. & Quintero Díaz, GE, 2007. Retrieved October 5, 2013.