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At/Teicanjmfuseum At/teican> JMfuseum 1ovitates PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST AT 79TH STREET, NEW YORK 24, N.Y. NUMBER 2064 DECEMBER 29, I96I An Addition to the Fauna of the United States, the Chihuahua Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake in New Mexico BY CHARLES M. BOGERT' AND WILLIAM G. DEGENHARDT2 As early as 1850, members of the first Mexican Boundary Commis- sion assembled collections of amphibians and reptiles. Since that early date, numerous collectors, attracted by the diversity of the fauna in portions of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona where wooded mountain tops are surrounded by arid terrain, have worked in areas along the In- ternational Boundary. Several species with secretive or specialized habits seem nevertheless to have eluded collectors until recently. It is not astonishing that amphibians and reptiles, particularly those with distributions poorly known or disjunct in northern Mexico, prove to occur north of the boundary. In view of the immense amount of study devoted to the rattlesnakes by L. M. Klauber prior to the publication of his monumental work in 1956, however, it seemed improbable that any additional representa- tive of the genus Crotalus would be found in the United States. Thus the discovery of a colony of Crotalus willardi silus roughly 17 miles north of the International Boundary in the Animas Mountains of Hidalgo County, New Mexico, was unexpected, even though it represents a 1The American Museum of Natural History. 2 The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2064 comparatively minor northward extension, little more than 90 miles beyond the range previously delineated by Klauber (1949, 1956). The record is of zoogeographical interest, because it demonstrates the existence of an additional disjunct population in a subspecies limited to higher altitudes in a few isolated mountains near the north- ern extremity of its range. The occurrence of this rattlesnake within the United States may interest those preparing handbooks or check lists. In addition the present account provides an opportunity for the depiction of a living representative of this remarkably well-defined subspecies. The group of rattlesnakes to which it belongs is likely to be subjected to more detailed study as other isolated mountains on the Mexican Plateau become accessible to collectors. No live specimens were avail- able to permit Klauber (1956) to illustrate the subspecies. The nominate subspecies of Crotalus willardi has been known in the United States for over half a century. When Klauber described Crotalus willardi silus in 1949, however, the 26 specimens assigned to the race were from localities in northeastern Sonora and western Chihuahua. The record for the Santa Maria Mine in the Sierra del Tigre is scarcely 50 miles south of the International Boundary. In Chihuahua the few records for C. w. silus suggest that it is restricted to areas at the higher elevations along the crest of the Continental Divide. Klauber mapped the range as extending northward to the headwaters of the Rio de Piedras Verdes at 6900 feet, roughly 75 miles in air-line distance south of New Mexico. To the northwest C. w. willardi is thus far known from the Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains in the United States, and from the Sierra de los Ajos, the Cerro Sierra Azul, and the Sierra Aconchi in northern Sonora, where Klauber (1956) reports it to be restricted to wooded areas in the pine-oak association at altitudes above 5000 feet. There are extensive areas of pine-oak woodland in the Chiricahua Mountains of extreme southeastern Arizona, but thus far C. willardi has not been taken in this range. Similar habitats were known to exist in the Animas Mountains in re- stricted areas at higher elevations, where Animas Peak rises to an ele- vation of 8519 feet. During the summer of 1953 ranchers in the area mentioned having seen small, grayish colored rattlesnakes near the summit of these mountains. At that time it seemed more probable that these would prove to be Crotaluspricei, as Klauber (1934) once suggested. Like Crotalus willardi silus, C. pricei occurs in pine-oak woodlands along the Continental Divide in Chihuahua, but it ranges north- ward to the Pinale-no Mountains in Arizona. Crotalus pricei is moder- 1961 BOGERT AND DEGENHARDT: RATTLESNAKE 3 ately abundant in suitable habitats in the Chiricahuas, but thus far it has not been taken in New Mexico or in the ranges adjacent to the boundary in Sonora and Chihuahua. HABITAT IN THE UNITED STATES Four specimens of Crotalus willardi silus from the Animas Mountains are now available. In 1957 Robert A. Zeller sent two living examples to the American Museum of Natural History, an adult female (A.M.N.H. No. 81796, fig. 3), taken a half mile east of Animas Peak at an elevation of 6875 feet, and an immature male (A.M.N.H. No. 79056, fig. 2), taken slightly to the southeast of the peak at an elevation of 7000 feet. Both specimens were obtained on September 15, the first at 12.30 P.M., and the second approximately an hour later. Both lo- calities are in the upper end of Indian Creek Canyon, which drains northward along the eastern slopes of the main ridge, becoming di- verted toward the northwest as a wash on the alluvial fan that drains into Animas Valley. On October 30, 1960, the junior author, while working in the same area in Indian Creek Canyon, collected an immature female (field no. 2264) at an elevation of 6800 feet and a somewhat larger female, prob- ably subadult (field no. 2265), at an elevation of 6900 feet. The first individual was found at 11.45 A.M.; the second, at 12.15 P.M. It is problematical whether Crotalus w. silus is restricted to this limited area in the Animas Mountains. It will be noted that all four specimens were obtained in the fall, following the summer rains, at elevations within a relatively narrow zone between 6800 and 7000 feet. In September as well as during the latter part of October, 1960, when frost could be expected nearly every night, the snakes were encountered during the middle of the day. Zeller found the adult female in the leaf litter of a shaded area among the oaks in the floor of the canyon where few pines occurred. The immature male was also in the shade when discovered in a rocky area characterized by grass, pines, and juniper. In 1960 the first individual was discovered among the leaves in a small outcrop of rocks that shielded the snake from direct sunlight. The second was taken on bare soil, dark brown in color, in the shade pro- vided by shrubs below a rocky outcrop. The air temperature approxi- mated 200 C., but in each instance the soil and the rocks adjacent to the snake were exposed to direct sunlight and probably warmer than the air. The plants conspicuous in the vegetation of the area include the alli- gator juniper (Juniperus deppiana), the Mexican pinon pine (Pinus cem- 4 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2064 111° 110° 1090 PiKaleo Mts. LEGEND Santa t Desert 4 t i Grassland1 4f' _ A RARIZONAI Z O N A ~~~~~Encinalnia I Tucson Rcon Mts. _ t Pine-Oak Woodland j--j-4.iConiferousm Forest 320- i*i ~= o Chiricahuan_ 320 4 Draeoon / E NEW MEXICO K ~ r~ / ~ Mt Animas Little Hatchet 0 ~~~~~~~~SantaRitaMts~~~~~~~hMoleMts~~~~~~~~~~~~Ms~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i.~ ~ ~ ~ A t~~~~~%.-.ig Hatchet Mts. So~~~~~~~~~Ml Mts Alamo No s HocoaMsDouglas AgoTa-Pri-et 'erra de oe Sera Lois zonaintheUniteStsansdSonoraand Chihuahua de San Uec AMts 30 SerraD /Sierra 3 bution4fdser,igasslnd,encrralivoa),pne-akotodland and-conifero ~~-~~~~Cerro~~~~~ierraAzolN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~EA*O~~~~~~~~~~~~ SierraMmi-r-e -dna ~? ~~SONORA31° ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~H d( Arispe. HoachinerM 3Q0 ~~~~~~~Sierrade #sr 310io ofmontan LoalemetoeAs ntetetadteapoimt distri ~~ ~~~ .~~Moctezoma 0 - Siera hi Acorichi Nacori Chico. 0 50 20 30 405 OSmiles 1110o 1100 1090 FIG. 1. Southwestern New Mexico and portions of the contiguous states of Ari- zona in the United States, and Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico, showing the lo- cation of mountains and valleys mentioned in the text and the approximate distri- bution of desert, grassland, encinal (live oak), pine-oak woodland, and coniferous forest. Adapted from maps in the publication ofJoe T. Marshall, Jr. (1957), with minor additions, as redrawn by Mr. Robert Gartland. 1961 BOGERT AND DEGENHARDT: RATTLESNAKE 5 broides), the Chihuahua pine (P. leiophylla), the netleaf oak (Quercus retic- ulata), Gambel oak (Q. gambelii), and whiteleaf oak (Q. hypoleucoides), as well as a few Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia). Various species of Eriogonum were abundant and in flower. Where the slopes are exposed, there are such grasses as Sporobolus, Muhlenbergia, and Aristida. At the elevations where C. w. silus was taken in Indian Creek Canyon, the slopes are steep but well forested, with humus abundant in the deep soil. There are scattered outcrops of rock but relatively few open areas where the grasses are dominant. Thus the habitat in the Animas Mountains differs little from that Klauber (1956) describes for populations of C. w. silus in the moun- tains in Mexico, where the subspecies, like the nominate race, is pri- marily an inhabitant of the pine-oak forest. Klauber reports C. w. silus from altitudes of 5500 to 8000 feet in Chihuahua and Sonora. Marshall (1957) maps the distribution of pine-oak woodlands in southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and the adjacent parts of Sonora and Chihuahua. It is probable that C. w. silus will be found in the Sierra de San Luis, which attain an altitude of 6751 feet where they extend across the International Boundary on the ridge that continues northward to form the Animas Mountains.
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