Neotropical Rattlesnake

About the Neotropical Rattlesnake

Crotalus durissus, known as the South American rattlesnake, tropical rattlesnake, 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. Currently, seven subspecies are recognized.

The Guiana rattlesnake, previously recognized as C. d. dryinus, 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. 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.

Table notes: A large Neotropical rattlesnake, it grows to a length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft), and rarely to a maximum length of 1.9 m (6.2 ft). It has two distinct stripes starting at the base of the head. Within the lines, the color is lighter than the stripes.

The color and pattern of the body are... Wikipedia →