Class Reptilia
Order Squamata
Suborder Serpentes
Family Crotalidae
Crotalus atrox—Western Diamondback Rattlesnake // Crotalus lepidus—Rock Rattlesnake // Crotalus michellii/oreganus—Speckled or Northern Pacific Rattlesnake // Crotalus molossus—Black-tailed Rattlesnake // Crotalus scutulatus—Mohave Rattlesnake // Crotalus viridis—Prairie Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes can be found in the Southwest in virtually every habitat from low desert into high-mountain forested areas. Their remains are frequent in cave deposits, presumably from a combination of often seeking protection from hot weather and hibernating in crevices and caves and in hunting small mammals such as woodrats that often inhabit caves. During excavations at U-Bar Cave, living rattlesnakes present on a number of occasions.
Although identification to genus is reasonably secure, there appears to be no published characters reliably separating the species on the basis of vertebral characters, other than some species reaching a larger maximum size. The Howell's Ridge Cave specimens include a medium-sized and a small-sized species (Van Devender and Worthington 1977). They mention five species as possibilities, including C. lepidus and C. viridis; the specimens identified by them (UTEP collection) include two tentative species identifications: C. lepidus and C. viridis (see account, below); it's unclear whether these identifications represent further study after the publication was submitted or just represent identifications the authors were unwilling to submit to print.
Sites.
Rancholabrean: Sierra Diablo Cave (UTEP).
Early/Early-Mid Wisconsin: Lost Valley (UTEP); Rm Vanishing Floor (Harris 1993c).
Mid Wisconsin: Pendejo Cave (Harris 2003); U-Bar Cave (Harris 1987).
Late Wisconsin: Algerita Blossom Cave (Harris 1993c); Animal Fair 18-20 ka (Harris 1989); Balcony Room (UTEP); Beyond Bison Chamber (Harris 1993c); Camel Room (Harris 1993c); Charlies Parlor (Harris 1989); Dust Cave (this work); Harris' Pocket (Harris 1989); Pendejo Cave (Harris 2003); Shafter Midden (UTEP); TT II (Harris 1993c); U-Bar Cave 13-14 ka (Harris 1989); U-Bar Cave 14-15 ka (Harris 1989); U-Bar Cave 15-18 ka (Harris 1989); U-Bar Cave 18-20 ka (Harris 1989); Upper Sloth Cave (Logan and Black 1979); Vulture Cave (Van Devender et al. 1977a).
Late Wisconsin/Holocene: Beyond Bison Chamber (Harris 1993c); Fowlkes Cave (Parmley 1990); Howell's Ridge Cave (Van Devender and Worthington 1977); Isleta Cave No. 2 (UTEP); Pendejo Cave (Harris 2003).
Literature. Harris 1987, 1989, 1993c, 2003; Logan and Black 1979; Parmley 1990; Van Devender and Worthington 1977; Van Devender et al. 1977a.
Holman's (1970) identification of this
species from the Dry Cave sites of Bison Chamber and Balcony Room is based on two skull
parts, a maxilla and a right angular. Brattstrom (1964) noted over 3,000 diamondback
vertebrae in just one box of elements from Shelter Cave; other specimens were present
from all sections. He also had available various cranial elements.
Fig. 1. Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. Photograph courtesy of Carl S. Lieb.
Sites.
Mid Wisconsin-Holocene: Shelter Cave (Brattstrom 1964).
Late Wisconsin: Bison Chamber (Holman 1970).
Late Wisconsin/Holocene: Balcony Room (Holman 1970); Conkling Cavern (Brattstrom 1964); Deadman Cave (Mead et al. 1984); Fosberg Cave (Brattstrom 1964).
Literature. Brattstrom 1964; Holman 1970; Mead et al. 1984.
Sites.
Currently this small snake occupies southeastern Arizona east across southern New Mexico to southwestern Texas and south into Mexico.
Late Blancan: Curtis Ranch (Brattstrom 1955: cf.)
Literature. Brattstrom 1955.
These are relatively small rattlesnakes. Crotalus oreganus was included in Crotalus viridis until recently (see Crotalus viridis account).
Sites.
Late Wisconsin: Desert Almond (Van Devender et al. 1977a); Vulture Cave (Mead and Phillips 1981).
Literature. Mead and Phillips 1981; Van Devender et al. 1977a.
Northern populations of Black-tailed Rattlesnakes recently have been recognized as actually consisting of two species, Crotalus molossus and C. ornatus (Anderson and Greenbaum 2012). Populations west of southwestern New Mexico are recognized as C. molossus, but relatively little change in the boundary would put C. ornatus into the California Wash area.
Sites.
Late Blancan: California Wash (Lindsay 1984: cf.).
Literature. Anderson and Greenbaum 2012; Lindsay 1984.
"The Mohave rattlesnake is a common desert-grassland and desertscrub snake in southern Arizona and near Deadman Cave today" (Mead et al. 1984:260).
Sites.
Late Wisconsin/Holocene: Deadman Cave (Mead et al. 1984).
Literature. Mead et al. 1984.
Until early in this century, populations
assigned to C. viridis occurred across the western U.S. DNA evidence that two
major phylogenetic groups were included under that name resulted in splitting the
species into a western species (C. oreganus) and an eastern species that retains
the name C. viridis. Most of New Mexico falls into the modern geographic range
of C. viridis; C. oreganus occurs throughout Arizona and extends eastward
into the highlands of west-central New Mexico. Specimens tentatively identified by Van
Devender (UTEP collection) from Howell's Ridge Cave as C. viridis are from
an area that might have been inhabited by C. oreganus. These specimens were
listed only to genus in Van Devender and Worthington (1977).
Fig. 1. Prairie Rattlesnake. Photograph by Carl S. Lieb.
The Prairie Rattlesnake reaches higher elevations than other species in the region, and this may be partly the basis for the identification from the high-elevation SAM Cave.
Sites.
Medial Irvingtonian: SAM Cave (Rogers et al. 2000).
Literature. Rogers et al. 2000; Van Devender and Worthington 1977
Last Update: 5 Mar 2013