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Crotalus ericsmithi (new species!!!)
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by Snakeman1982 on July 6, 2008
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Hello everybody,
Just thought this new species of rattlesnake would interest some of you. It is a new species a few of us caught last year in southern Mexico. By far the most beautiful rattlesnake I have ever seen. Pretty placid as well. The article can be found in the june issue of Herpetologica '08.
The link is here http://www.crotalus.com/Crotalus_ericsmithi.pdf
Enjoy,
Robert
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RE: Crotalus ericsmithi (new species!!!)
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by Cro on July 7, 2008
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Robert, it is fantastic that you had a part in the discovery of Crotalus ericsmithi !
I agree that it is one of the most unique, and beautyfull rattlesnakes that I have ever seen.
I sure hope that more are found, and that they eventually make it to some of the Texas Zoos where they can be bred in captivity.
Has anyone decided on a common name for this snake yet ?
Perhaps something like Rý´o Balsas long-tailed rattlesnake ?
Can you tell us a bit more about the expedition, and your involvement ?
Best Regards John Z
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RE: Crotalus ericsmithi (new species!!!)
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by atwageman on July 7, 2008
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Maybe we will see some captive breeding afforts on this species. I know I would like to have a go at it. Awesome looking snake.
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RE: Crotalus ericsmithi (new species!!!)
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by boklu on July 7, 2008
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For all who have not access to the PDF yoou can see the picture of the holotype here:
http://www.herpFocus.com?HFID=HF20080707-001
(Picture is published on the site with permission of Dr. Campbell!)
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RE: Crotalus ericsmithi (new species!!!)
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by Snakeman1982 on July 7, 2008
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The proposed common names are mentioned at the end of the manuscript: (english) Guerreran Long-tailed Rattlesnake, (Spanish) Cascabel Cola-larga de Guerrero.
To answer the most asked and maybe important question. No there is no captive breeding program being established. This is the only specimen found so far (male), so everything we know about this species is from this one specimen that we found. Not sure if we'll find any more as the location is really remote and scientists are collecting there.
My involvement in the expedition is because I am a student at U.T. Arlington, where J. Campbell and many others are at. I am a student of Dr. Eric Smith, who studied under J. Campbell and is now faculty at UTA. [Thomas Eimermacher (part of the SEHHS team) is also a Ph.D. student in Eric's lab at UTA.] So last summer a couple other graduate students from our lab and I went with Eric to look for new species in southern Mexico. This is one of the new species that we found and probably the second coolest. There is another new pitviper that I am describing that although is not as pretty as this rattlesnake, is a little more awesome (personal opinion). So while we were in the mountain regions herping for new species we saw this rattlesnake on the road, jumped out of our van, and caught it. We kept it alive for a few days and people took photos of it. I am a little disappointed actually that there are only two photographs of this species published since there are additional photographs that are equally as impressive. I do not have permission to distribute the photos but I am sure they will come out sometime in the future in another Campbell book.
UTA collaborates a lot with the Mexican herpetologists and so two other students not from UTA were on the expedition as well.
This summer, we have a group of students that have been in Mexico collecting since May and I am eager to hear what they bring back. They will be looking for more new species but mostly from the southwestern regions of Mexico and not Guerrero. They get back in 11 days or so.
Well let me know if you have more questions,
Robert
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RE: Crotalus ericsmithi (new species!!!)
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by Snakeman1982 on July 7, 2008
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We don't know anything for either of those questions. Venom samples were not collected and anything in its stomach was probably digested by the time it was preserved. We did however take tissue samples and sent it to a lab working on its phylogenetic relationships to other rattlesnakes. So that should be out hopefully soon.
Robert
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