Crotalus cerastes
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The Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes) is a rattlesnake that inhabits lowland deserts of the southwestern United States (Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah) and northern Mexico. The species is nocturnal during hot months and diurnal during the cooler months of its activity period, which is roughly from March to November (probably longer in the southern part of its range). Some people call this snake the horned rattlesnake because of the raised supraocular scales above its eyes.
The sidewinder is named for its unusual form of locomotion, which is thought to give it traction on windblown desert sand, but this peculiar locomotor specialization is used on any substrate that the sidewinder can move over rapidly. As its body progresses over loose sand, it forms a letter-J shaped impression, with the tip of the hook pointing in the direction of travel. Sidewinding is also the primary mode of locomotion in other desert sand dwellers, such as the Horned Adder (Bitis caudalis) and Peringuey's Adder (Bitis peringueyi), but many other snakes can assume this form of locomotion when on slick substrates (e.g., mud flats).
While the Sidewinder is venomous, its bite is not usually fatal to adult humans. However, the bite can cause severe systemic reactions and localized tissue death, and death is possible if the individual suffers an allergic reaction to the venom.
This snake (like all rattlesnakes) is a pit viper, using its sensory pits to detect the infrared (heat) radiation of warm blooded potential prey and predators. The warhead and heat-seeking guidance system of the American-designed AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile (which is named for the snake) parallel the snake's venom and these sensory organs.
Juvenile Sidewinders use their tails to attract lizard prey (see video at http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~r.s.reiserer/luring.html), a behavior termed "caudal luring." Adult Sidewinders lose this behavior as they make the transition from lizard prey to their primary diet of desert rodents.
Sidewinders produce up to 18 young, with an average of about 10 per litter. Like other snakes in the family Viperidae, their young are born enveloped in thin embryonic membranes out of which they emerge shortly after being expelled from the mother. The young stay with their mother in a burrow for 7-10 days, shed for the first time, then leave their natal burrow. During this time, it is thought that the mother guards and protects them from predators.
Additional information on this species can be found at http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~r.s.reiserer/sidewinders.html
There are three recognized subspecies:
- Crotalus cerastes cerastes, Mojave Desert Sidewinder
- Crotalus cerastes cercobombus, Sonoran Desert Sidewinder
- Crotalus cerastes laterorepens, Colorado Desert Sidewinder
External links
- EMBL Reptile Database - [Family Viperidae]
See also
List of rattlesnake species and subspecies.
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