Posted by:
desertherper
at Wed Feb 28 19:37:47 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by desertherper ]
Crotalus viridis has been split up with at least two species or with every subspecies elevated to species depending on your taxonomy.
In brief, Crotalus viridis viridis and Crotalus viridis nuntius are grouped together (and lumped) into Crotalus viridis - the prairie rattlesnake.
All the other Crotalus viridis subspecies are listed now under the species oreganus. This group would probably be the more fitting "western rattlesnake" or "Pacific rattlesnake" - but heck, let's not get into that pesky common name debate. So you have Crotalus oreganus oreganus, C. o. helleri, C. o. caliginis (usually lumped into helleri), C. o. cerberus (recognized by some as distinct species), C. o. abyssus, C. o. concolor, and C. o. lutosus as the subspecies of Crotalus oreganus.
Some authors like Douglas et al. suggest elevating all subspecies to full species. Anyway it doesn't really matter in regards to your question. What is present in eastern Colorado is commonly called the prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis or Crotalus v. viridis, however you want to classify it). The photo in the link HofR posted looks like a northern Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus oreganus or C. viridis oreganus).
Here are some articles on all the taxonomy stuff:
Pook, C.E., W. Wüster & R.S. Thorpe. 2000. Historical biogeography of the western rattlesnake (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus viridis), inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence information. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 15: 269-282.
Ashton, K.G. & A. de Queiroz. 2001. Molecular Systematics of the western rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis (Viperidae), with comments on the utility of the D-Loop in phylogenetic studies of snakes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 21(2): 176-189.
Douglas, M. E., M.R. Douglas, G.W. Schuett, L.W. Porras & A.T. Holycross. 2002. Phylogeography of the western rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) complex, with emphasis on the Colorado Plateau. Pp. 11-50, in G. W. Schuett, M. Höggren, M. E. Douglas and H. W. Greene, (eds.), Biology of the Vipers. Eagle Mountain Publishing, Eagle Mountain, Utah, U.S.A.
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