Crotalus pricei


Crotalus pricei is a species of venomous snake, a pit viper in the family Viperidae. The species is endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Two subspecies are recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.

Etymology

The specific name, pricei, is in honor of William Wightman "Billy" Price, a field biologist, who collected the first specimens which became the type series.

Description

Adults of C. pricei usually do not exceed 50–60 cm in total length. The maximum total length recorded is 66 cm.
The color pattern consists of a gray, bluish-gray, brownish-gray, or medium- to reddish-brown ground color, usually with a fine brown speckling. This is overlaid with a series of dorsal blotches that tend to be divided down the median line to form 39-64 pairs.

Common names

s for C. pricei include twin-spotted rattlesnake, western twin-spotted rattlesnake, Price's rattlesnake, Arizona spotted rattlesnake, spotted rattlesnake, and Arizona twin-spotted rattlesnake.

Geographic range

C. pricei is found in the United States in southeastern Arizona. In northern Mexico, it occurs in the Sierra Madre Occidental in Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango. It has also been found in the Sierra Madre Oriental in southeastern Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas, with isolated records in San Luis Potosí and Aguascalientes. The type locality given is "Huachua Mts., Arizona".

Conservation status

This species, C. pricei, is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Species are listed as such due to their wide distribution, presumed large population, or because they are unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category. The population trend was stable when assessed in 2007.

Subspecies