The Colorado Desert sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes laterorepens)[2] is a pitviper subspecies[3] found in an area that centers on the Sonoran Colorado Desert in Southern California. It is also native to the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. Like all other pitvipers, it is venomous.
| Crotalus cerastes laterorepens Colorado Desert sidewinder | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Viperidae |
| Genus: | Crotalus |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | C. c. laterorepens
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| Trinomial name | |
| Crotalus cerastes laterorepens Klauber, 1944
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| Synonyms | |
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Description
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This form of Crotalus cerastes has the following distinguishing characteristics: the proximal rattle-matrix lobe is black in adult specimens, the ventral scales number 137–151/135–154 in males/females, the subcaudals number 19-26/14-21 in males/females, and there are usually 23 rows of midbody dorsal scales.[4]
Geographic range
editThe Colorado Desert sidewinder is found in Sonoran Desert areas, from central and eastern Riverside County, California to Pinal County, Arizona in the United States, and south to northwestern Sonora and northeastern Baja California states in Mexico. It is in areas from the Lower Colorado River Valley to the surrounding desert foothills, at elevations between 152–610 metres (499–2,001 ft).[2] The type locality given is "The Narrows, San Diego County, California".[1]
Campbell and Lamar (2004) describe its range as the desert regions of southeastern California, southwestern Arizona, as well as the western panhandle region of the Sonoran Desert.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
- ^ a b Wright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. Comstock Publishing Associates. (7th printing, 1985). 1105 pp. ISBN 0-8014-0463-0.
- ^ "Crotalus cerastes laterorepens". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
- ^ a b Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
External links
edit- Crotalus cerastes at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 3 August 2007.