Crotalus

Crotalus is a genus of pit vipers, commonly known as rattlesnakes or rattlers, in the family Viperidae. The genus is found only in the Americas from southern Canada to northern Argentina. The generic name Crotalus is derived from the Greek word κρόταλον krótalοn, which means "rattle" or "castanet", and refers to the rattle on the end of the tail, which makes this group so distinctive. As of July 2023, 44 to 53 species are recognized as valid.

Crotalus

Jonathunder · GFDL 1.2 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
rattlesnakePBDB
Sits inside
CrotalidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 9.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 9.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 12.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 5 of 94 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 94 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 79 of 94 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 94 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–10.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10.0–9.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.5–9.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.1–8.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.7–8.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.2–7.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.4–6.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.1–5.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.6–5.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.2–4.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.8–4.3 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences4.3–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.5–3.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.0–2.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.6–2.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.2–1.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.7–1.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.3–867 ka Mya — about 7 occurrences867 ka–433 ka Mya — about 8 occurrences433 ka–0 Mya — about 58 occurrences9.4 Mya11.7 ka13 Mya0 Mya

94 occurrences of Crotalus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

94 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

14 formations

Rexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WLong Pine — 42.38°N, 98.23°WAlamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WMcPherson — 38.30°N, 97.60°WOcala — 29.14°N, 82.21°WMontezuma — 37.99°N, 121.71°W

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The named rock units Crotalus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 76 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Crotalus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Crotalus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,442 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 83 sites for Crotalus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

54 references

Each of the 94 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 42 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Crotalus

Credit
Jonathunder
Licence
GFDL 1.2
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Crotalus viridis · UMMZ:Herps:230391

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCrotalidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758