Photo credit:

Karim Amri

Common name

Eastern Twin-spotted Rattlesnake

Scientific name

Crotalus pricei miquihuanus

Conservation Status

Least Concern

Federal and State Protections

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Range Map

Countries of Occurrence

Mexico, United States

Adult size

Up to 66cm (26in)

States or Providence 

Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Coahuila

Counties

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Species Description

The western twin-spotted rattlesnake can be found in scrub-oak and agave-type habitats at higher elevations in the Sierra Madre Oriental. They primarily consume vertebrates including lizards, small mammals, and young birds

They are one of several "cloud island" species which colonized temperate forested highlands during the Pleistocene epoch. Surrounding lowland areas turned arid, which cut these separate populations off from one another (surrounded by environments uninhabitable to these species).

This species, the twin-spotted rattlesnake, is considered imperiled in Arizona, USA. The subspecies is endemic to Mexico, however, and occurs largely in unpopulated, isolated habitat.