Grand Canyon Rattlesnake

[TradClimber]

Welcome to the forum, Santana

Jamessantino31 posted:

How does the snake lieght????

I don't understand your question. Try again.

TradClimber

[desert wanderer]

I do tours in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and in the east part of the Grand Canyon, and that snake looks very similar to one I saw at Lees Ferry. Although the snake i saw was approximately 4 feet long and a little darker. Now I know what the species probably was! Cool!

[reptilist]

Very cool!

[Sycamore]

Well Rick,

The Grand Canyon Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus abyssus), the Midget Faded Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus concolor), and the Great Basin Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus lutosus), are all subspecies of the "Western Rattlesnake" clade... perhaps their young look similar to each other, I don't know.....

The abyssus and the concolor range maps overlap a little bit, though I am not sure if Arches occurs within that overlapping of ranges. But judging by the look of it, I think the one you have pictured is an abyssus....
But I could be wrong.

The juveniles ( of the western (old cv) all look very much alike, they color differentiate later. Or so I'm told. all the little fellers in the Canyon look very much like yours, white and brown.

The abyssus will get salmon colored, but the speckled (different species, mitchelli) further downstream wil get to be a true pink, as well as lavender.

Great paper by somebody (Holycross probably) about the relationships and gene connections in the old western (cv) rattlesnake.

Sycamore

[Sycamore]

...Great paper by somebody (Holycross probably) about the relationships and gene connections in the old western (cv) rattlesnake.

Sycamore

found the citation:

Douglas, Douglas, Schuett, Porras, Holycross. 2002. Phylogeography of the western rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) complex, with emphasis on the Colorado Plateau

Sycamore