Crotalus intermedius - Mexican small-headed rattlesnake

Meaning
The name is formed from two words in Latin, inter stands for inside or between and medius stand for middle. This may refer to the series of middorsal blotches.

English name
Mexican small-headed rattlesnake

Distribution
This montane rattlesnake is found in the central and southern highlands of Mexico from an altitude of 2000m to above 3000m.

Habitat
Their habitat mostly consists of seasonally dry pine-oak forests, but specimens have been found in the cloud forest near Guerrero and the desert near Puebla and Hidalgo.

Description
Crotalus intermedius generally reach lengths between 50cm to 60cm in males, the females tend to be a bit smaller.
Their ground color is gray, blueish gray of brownish gray with black edged blotches of brown to reddish brown. They have a dark postocular stripe starting from behind the eye on a downwards angle to the jaw into the neck. The area below the stripe tends to be a pale color. Most have and a dark crossbar on top of the head between the supraoculars, although both the crossbar and stripe may not be visible in C. i. gloydi.

There are three subspecies recognized:
C. i. gloydi from the mountains of Oaxaca and southern Puebla.
C. i. intermedius from east-central Mexico.
C. i. omiltemanus from the mountains of Guerrero.

Diet
Their diet consists of small mammals, lizards, amphibians and insects.

Venom
They have a low venom yield with hemorrhagic activity.