Crotalus pricei

{{Speciesbox

| image = Crotalus pricei.jpg

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Hammerson, G.A. |author2=Vazquez Díaz, J. |author3=Quintero Díaz, G.E. |date=2007 |title=Crotalus pricei |volume=2007 |page=e.T64328A12770149 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T64328A12770149.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| genus = Crotalus

| species = pricei

| authority = Van Denburgh, 1895

| range_map = Crotalus pricei distribution.png

| synonyms = * Crotalus pricei
{{small|Van Denburgh, 1895}}

C [rotalus]. t [riseriatus]. pricei
{{small|— Klauber In Githens & George, 1931}}
Crotalus pricei pricei
{{small|— H.M. Smith, 1946}}McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. {{ISBN|1-893777-00-6}} (series). {{ISBN|1-893777-01-4}} (volume).

}}

:Common names: twin-spotted rattlesnake,Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. 870 pp., 1500 plates. {{ISBN|0-8014-4141-2}}. western twin-spotted rattlesnake,Klauber LM (1997). Rattlesnakes: Their Habitats, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind. Second Edition. First published in 1956. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-21056-5}}. more

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.

Etymology

The specific name, pricei, is in honor of William Wightman "Billy" Price (1871–1922), a field biologist, who collected the first specimens which became the type series.{{cite journal | last1 = Moll | first1 = Edward O. | year = 2003 | title = Patronyms of the Pioneer West, V. Crotalus pricei Van Denburgh, 1895 – Twin-spotted rattlesnake | journal = Sonoran Herpetologist | volume = 16 | issue = 12| pages = 110–112 }}Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (Crotalus pricei, p. 211).{{Cite journal|last=Fisher|first=Walter K.|date=March 1923|title=William Wightman Price|url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v025n02/p0050-p0057.pdf|journal=The Condor|volume=25|issue=2|pages=50–57|doi=10.2307/1362900|jstor=1362900}}

Description

File:Crotalus pricei pricei.jpg

Adults of C. pricei usually do not exceed 50–60 cm (about 20–24 in) in total length (including tail). The maximum total length recorded is 66 cm (26 in).

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.

Behavior

Amid the mountain rocks where it lives, this small snake may rattle furiously at passing humans yet never be heard. The nights are often cold where it lives. It is driven by hunger, seeking out small rodents and lizards. Though its pattern looks bizarre its protective coloration blends well with the light and shadow of the mountains. Although it has been conjectured that it has a venom of high potency, little is known - there are no recorded bites to humans from this snake. {{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Sheldon|last2=Shaw|first2=Charles E.|title=Snakes of The American West|year=1974|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=978-0-394-48882-0}}

Common names

Common names for C. pricei include twin-spotted rattlesnake, western twin-spotted rattlesnake, Price's rattlesnake, Arizona spotted rattlesnake, spotted rattlesnake,Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. (7th printing, 1985). Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes). {{ISBN|0-8014-0463-0}}. and Arizona twin-spotted rattlesnake.Brown JH (1973). Toxicology and Pharmacology of Venoms from Poisonous Snakes. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 184 pp. LCCCN 73-229. {{ISBN|0-398-02808-7}}.

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 "Huachuca Mts., Arizona" (Cochise County, Arizona, United States).

Conservation status

This species, C. pricei, is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (v3.1, 2001). 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.{{Redlist CC2001|date=13 September|year=2007}}

Subspecies

cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse;"

!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Subspecies

!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Taxon author

!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Common name

!bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Geographic range

C. p. miquihuanus

|Gloyd, 1940

|Eastern twin-spotted rattlesnake

|style="width:40%"|Mexico: southeastern Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas

C. p. pricei

|Van Denburgh, 1895

|Western twin-spotted rattlesnake, Arizona twin-spotted rattlesnake

|United States: southeastern Arizona, Mexico: Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{NRDB species |genus=Crotalus |species=pricei |access-date=7 January 2025}}

{{cite journal | last1 = Van Denburgh | first1 = J | author-link = John Van Denburgh | year = 1895 | title = Description of a new rattlesnake (Crotalus pricei) from Arizona | journal = Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences | series = 2 |volume = 5 | pages = 856–857 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/100614#page/1036/mode/1up }}

}}