Crotalus stejnegeri - Long-tailed rattlesnake

Meaning
stejnegeri – The name was given in honoring the Norwegian Leonhard Hess Stejneger (1851-1943) who emigrated to the US and became head curator of biology at the National Museum of Natural History.

Distribution
Only found in western Mexico in the states Sierra Madre Occidental, Durango, Sinaloa and Nayarit between 500 m and 1,200 m altitude.

Habitat
Usually found in the overlap between forests like pine-oak forest, subtropical dry forest and tropical deciduous forest.

Description
This is a small species of rattlesnake with a tiny rattle, usually not growing more than 60 cm in length. The greatest recorded was 72.4 cm. The tail is relatively long compared to body length, consisting of 11-15% by males and 10-12.5% in females.
The ground color is usually gray-brown turning darker towards the end. The head has often a pair of dark spots and the dorsal blotches are brown with black edges. On the flank three series of blotches may be present with crossbands on the tail.

Diet
Prey mainly consist out of lizards, amphibians and small mammals, but juveniles may also eat insects

Venom
The venom of C. stejnegeri is considered not to be very dangerous for humans because of small vernom yield, but with any rattlesnake any bite should be taken serious. Local effects probably consist of swelling, ecchymosis and pain

Extra
This species is very much under threat; known from only 10 locations in a distribution area of less than 20,000 km², which is becoming more and more fragmented by development, population is dwindling.