Crotalus simus

: ''Common names: Middle American rattlesnake, Central American rattlesnake,''Klauber LM. 1997. Rattlesnakes: Their Habitats, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind. Second Edition. 2 volumes. Reprint, University of California Press, Berkeley. . ''tzabcan'' (local name for subspecies ''C. s. tzabcan'')

''Crotalus simus'' is a venomous pit viper species found in Mexico and Central America. The specific epithet is Latin for "flat-nosed", likely because its head is blunt compared with lanceheads (''Bothrops''). Three subspecies are recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.

Description

Adults commonly exceed in length, with males growing larger than females. Large males reach in some populations. The maximum length is .

The body has a rough appearance because the dorsal scale keels are accentuated into protuberances or tuberculations. This is most apparent on the scale rows on either side of the body with a decreasing intensity in the lower rows. The vertebral scales are about as prominently keeled as the fourth row down on the flanks (with the vertebral scales as the first row).

Distribution and habitat

The species is found from Mexico in southwestern Michoacán on the Pacific coast, and Veracruz and the Yucatan Peninsula on the Atlantic coast, south through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua to west-central Costa Rica. It is absent from Panama, but apparently does occur on the Atlantic side of Colombia. The type locality given is "Ceylan", which is incorrect. Its habitats are semiarid, including dry or very dry tropical forests, thorn woodland, and arid scrub forest. It also occurs in mesic forests with relatively dry, open areas.

Uses

To the Mayans, the Yucatan subspecies (''C. s. tzabcan'') is greatly revered. The word ''tzabcan'' means rattlesnake in Mayan. What the rattlesnake actually symbolizes is unknown, but many temples have carved rattlesnake shapes. Shamans also dry and roast snakes, grinding them into a powder used as medicine.

Venom

Bites are similar to rattlesnake bites in the United States. Local symptoms may be severe, with pain, massive swelling, blistering, and necrosis that lead to fasciotomies and in some cases amputations. Systemic effects involving hemostatic disturbances are rare, as are kidney failure, and neurotoxicity. Only venom from neonates contains crotoxin; a constituent typically found in '' C. durissus'' venom that produces neurotoxic symptoms.Warrell DA. 2004. Snakebites in Central and South America: Epidemiology, Clinical Features, and Clinical Management. ''In'' Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. .

Taxonomy

Previously, until 2004, the description for this form was listed as the nominate subspecies for the tropical rattlesnake, '' C. durissus''. Molecular genetic data suggest the taxa ''culminatus'' and ''tzabcan'' should be considered as separate species from ''C. simus''Wüster, W., J.E. Ferguson, J.A. Quijada-Mascareñas, C.E. Pook, M.G. Salomão & R.S. Thorpe (2005) Tracing an invasion: landbridges, refugia and the phylogeography of the Neotropical rattlesnake (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus durissus). Molecular Ecology 14(4): 1095–1108.

References

Further reading

* Sonnini, C.S. & Latreille, P.A. 1801. ''Histoire naturelle des Reptiles, avec figures dessinées d'après nature; Tome III. Seconde Partie. Serpens.'' Crapelet. Paris. 335 pp. (''Crotalus simus'', p. 202.)

{{Taxonbar, from=Q146338

simus
Reptiles of Guatemala
Reptiles described in 1801