''Crotalus angelensis'', or the Ángel de la Guarda Island speckled rattlesnake, Klauber LM. 1997. ''Rattlesnakes: Their Habitats, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind''. Second Edition. 2 volumes. Reprint. University of California Press. Berkeley. . is a

pitviper The Crotalinae, commonly known as pit vipers,Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . crotaline snakes (from grc, κρόταλον ''krotalon'' castanet), or pit adders, are a subf ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

Isla Ángel de la Guarda Isla Ángel de la Guarda, (Guardian Angel Island) also called Archangel Island, is a large island in the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) east of Bahía de los Ángeles in northwestern Mexico, separated from the Baja California Peninsula by th ...

in the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. Like all other pitvipers, it is

venomous Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a ...

. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of ''

Crotalus mitchellii :''Common names: speckled rattlesnake,Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. 870 pp. 1500 plates. . Mitchell's rattlesnake,U.S. Navy (1991). ''Poisonou ...

''.

Description

Grows to a maximum size of .

Geographic range

Found only on

in the

. The

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given is "about southeast of Refugio Bay, at elevation, Isla Ángel de la Guarda, Gulf of California, Mexico (near 29°29½'N, 113°33'W)".

Habitat

Gravelly beaches along the shore; rocky arroyos, washes, and on the hillsides of the island's interior, from sea-level up to 500 m.

Conservation status

This

is classified as "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...

" (LC) on the IUCN

Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolog ...

. It occurs in a protected area and is very abundant within its small range.

Description

Geographic range

Habitat

Conservation status

References

Further reading