Crotalus durissus
South American rattlesnake | |
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South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus terrificus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Viperidae |
Genus: | Crotalus |
Species: | C. durissus
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Binomial name | |
Crotalus durissus | |
Synonyms | |
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Crotalus durissus, known as the South American rattlesnake,[2] tropical rattlesnake,[4] and by other names, is a highly venomous pit viper species found in South America. It is the most widely distributed member of its genus.[2] Currently, seven subspecies are recognized.[5]
Taxonomy
The Guiana rattlesnake, previously recognized as C. d. dryinus,[3] is now considered a synonym for C. d. durissus. In fact, after the previous nominate subspecies for the C. d. durissus complex became the current nominate for Crotalus simus, which now represents its Mexican and Central American members, C. d. dryinus became the new nominate for the South American rattlesnakes as represented by C. durissus.[2] The subspecies previously known as C. d. collilineatus and C. d. cascavella were moved to the synonymy of C. d. terrificus following the publication of a paper by Wüster et al. in 2005.
Subspecies
Subspecies[ref 1] | Taxon author[ref 1] | Common name | Geographic range |
---|---|---|---|
C. d. cumanensis | Humboldt, 1833 | Venezuelan rattlesnake[ref 2] | Dry lowlands of Venezuela and Colombia |
C. d. durissus | Linnaeus, 1758 | South American rattlesnake[ref 3] | Coastal savannas of Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname |
C. d. marajoensis | Hoge, 1966 | Marajon rattlesnake[ref 4] | Known only from Marajo Island, Para State, Brazil |
C. d. maricelae | García Pérez, 1995 | Bolson arido de Lagunillas, Estado Mérida, Venezuela | |
C. d. ruruima | Hoge, 1966 | Known from the slopes of Mount Roraima and Mount Cariman-Perú in Venezuela (Bolívar). A few specimens have been recorded in Brazil (Roraima).[ref 3] | |
C. d. terrificus
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(Laurenti, 1768) | Cascavel[ref 2] | Brazil south of the Amazonian forests, extreme southeastern Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, northern Argentina |
C. d. trigonicus | Harris & Simmons, 1978 | Inland savannas of Guyana |
- ^ a b "Crotalinae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 26 October 2006.
- ^ ISBN 0-8069-6460-X.
- ^ ISBN 0-8014-4141-2.
- ISBN 0-398-02808-7.
Description
A large
The color and pattern of the body are quite variable, most with an 18–32 dorsal with a darker diamond, and rhombic spots, 25–33 (usually 27) rows of dorsal scale in the middle of the body. The head has a dark brown bar at the top, with a dark post-orbital band. The color of the belly varies, it can be white or yellowish, with light gray spots, becoming darker towards the tail. The tail is usually gray, with dark and vague crossed bands.
Behaviour
The species is more active at dusk and in the early hours of the morning; it is highly alert with little warning signs before striking, but like other rattlesnakes they are seldom aggressive towards humans.[6]
Reproduction
The South American rattlesnake has a seasonal reproductive cycle; competition between males (for access to females) begins around the summer's end, with copulation occurring during the fall, and the birth of the young taking place the following spring/summer.
Diet
The diet consists mainly of
Common names
Common names for the species include: South American rattlesnake,[2] tropical rattler, tropical rattlesnake,[4] neotropical rattlesnake,[10] Guiana rattlesnake (previously used for C. d. dryinus).[11] and in Spanish: víbora de cascabel, cascabel, cascabela, and also in Portuguese, cascavel.[2] In Suriname it is known as Sakasneki.[12]
Geographic range
Crotalus durissus is found in South America except the Andes Mountains. However, its range is discontinuous,[2] with many isolated populations in northern South America, including Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and northern Brazil. It occurs in Colombia and eastern Brazil to southeastern Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina (Catamarca, Córdoba, Corrientes, Chaco, Entre Rios, Formosa, La Pampa, La Rioja, Mendoza, Misiones, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán).[3] It also occurs on some islands in the Caribbean, including Aruba.[2] The type locality given is "America."[3]
Habitat
It prefers
Venom
Bite symptoms are very different from those of
References
- ^ Martins, M. & Lamar (June 30, 2009). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Crotalus durissus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8014-4141-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-893777-00-2.
- ^ ISBN 0-8069-6460-X
- ^ "Crotalus durissus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
- ^ a b "Living Hazards Database (LHD) – Search by Scientific Name" (PDF). Acq.osd.mil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Custos reprodutivos em Crotalus durissus (Serpentes, Viperidae) do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil". Bdtd.ibict.br. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
Crotalus durissus possui um ciclo reprodutivo sazonal com cópula ocorrendo no outono e a parturição no final no verão. Os machos competem por fêmeas receptivas.
- ^ a b "Estudo aponta que em Roraima cascavéis têm hábitos noturnos e dois venenos: 'atributos únicos'". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-11-01.
- ^ Argaez, Maria Adelaida Hoyos (2012-06-22). A cascavel neotropical Crotalus durissus: uma abordagem morfológica e da historia natural em populações do Brasil (text thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Universidade de São Paulo.
- ISBN 0-486-26629-X
- ISBN 0-398-02808-7
- ^ "Slangen van Suriname - Snakes of South America ( Suriname )". Suriname123.com.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-21056-1.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-10. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - PMID 11593312.
- ^ "LD50 and venom yields | snakedatabase.org". snakedatabase.org. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
- PMID 1926179.
- ^ Butantan, Instituto. Coletanea de trabalhos do Instituto Butantan. Instituto Butantan.
Further reading
- Alvaro ME. 1939. Snake Venom in Ophthalmology. Am. Jour. Opth., Vol. 22, No. 10, pp. 1130–1145.
- Wüster W, Ferguson JE, Quijada-Mascareñas JA, Pook CE, Salomão MG, Thorpe RS. 2005. Tracing an invasion: landbridges, refugia and the phylogeography of the Neotropical rattlesnake (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus durissus). Molecular Ecology 14: 1095–1108. PDF at Wolfgang Wüster. Accessed 28 August 2007.
- Wüster W, Ferguson JE, Quijada-Mascareñas JA, Pook CE, Salomão MG, Thorpe RS. 2005. No rattlesnakes in the rainforests: reply to Gosling and Bush. Molecular Ecology, 14: 3619–3621. PDF at Wolfgang Wüster. Accessed 28 August 2007.
- Quijada-Mascareñas A, JE Ferguson, CE Pook, MG Salomão, RS Thorpe, & W Wüster. 2007. Phylogeographic patterns of Trans-Amazonian vicariants and Amazonian biogeography: The Neotropical rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus complex) as an example. Journal of Biogeography 34: 1296–1312. PDF
External links
- Media related to Crotalus durissus at Wikimedia Commons
- Crotalus durissus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 19 August 2007.