An adult Pygmy Rattlesnake from Wagoner County, Oklahoma (iNat: 87934048). Image by iNat user Thomas Shahan (tshahan).
An adult Pygmy Rattlesnake from Benton County, Arkansas (iNat: 59143725). Image by iNat user J.D. Willson (jdwillson).
An adult Pygmy Rattlesnake from Wagoner County, Oklahoma (iNat: 87934048). Image by iNat user Thomas Shahan (tshahan).
REPTILIA (Reptiles) SQUAMATA (PART) (Snakes) CROTALIDAE (Pit Vipers)

Pygmy Rattlesnake
Sistrurus miliarius (Linnaeus 1766)
sĭs-trū-rŭs — mĭl-ē-ăr-ē-ŭs


Conservation Status:

State: None

Federal: None
NatureServe State: SNA - Not Applicable
NatureServe National: N5 - Secure
NatureServe Global: G5 - Secure
CITES: None
Diagnosis:
DANGEROUSLY VENOMOUS (a threat to life or limb):

Distribution:
This small rattlesnake is known to occur within 60 miles of the Kansas border based on specimens from Mayes County, Oklahoma, and Barry County, Missouri.
(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record) (,   iNat Record), (  Fossil)
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Full range depicted by light shaded red area. Export Google Earth (.kml)
  • Occurrence Summary:  
  • 0
    Records 
  • 0
    Museum Vouchers 
  • 0
    Other Observations 
Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):


Natural History:


Occurrence Activity:
Number of Unique Obervations (=days): 0; Range: 01 Jan to 01 Jan
Remarks:
Smith (1956) suggested that this snake might be discovered in extreme southeastern Kansas because of the close proximity of documented localities in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Johnson (1987) recorded the Pigmy Rattlesnake from Barry County, Missouri, 30- 35 miles east of the eastern Kansas border. Webb (1970) reported this species from Mayes County, Oklahoma, 40- 50 miles south of the Kansas border. This venomous serpent may be discovered in the Ozark Plateau of Cherokee county in extreme southeastern Kansas.


Bibliography:
1766 Linné, Carl von (=Linneaus). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. [The system of nature through the three kingdoms of nature, according to classes, orders, genera, species with characters, differences, synonyms, places. Volume I.] Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, Holmiae, Editio duodecima, reformata (12th Edition). 1-532pp.
Contains the original descriptions of Lacerta 6-lineata (=Aspidoscelis sexlineata) page 364, Sistrurus miliarius page 372, Boa contortrix (=Agkistrodon contortrix): page 373, Coluber striatulus (=Haldea striatula) page 275, Coluber punctatus (=Diadophis punctatus) page 376, and Coluber aestivus (=Opheodrys aestivus) page 387.
1940 Gloyd, Howard K. The rattlesnakes, genera Sistrurus and Crotalus. Chicago Academy of Sciences Special Publication 4(1):1-266
1950 Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas. University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History, Miscellaneous Publication (2):336
The first modern herpetology of Kansas. Includes locality dot maps within individual species accounts. Reports 96 species from Kansas (table and text say 97 on p. 10) and 13 "probable but unverified" species and subspecies.
1956 Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas. Second edition. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Publication (9):1-356
Hobart M. Smith's updated second edition of his first (1950) modern herpetology of Kansas. Includes locality dot maps within individual species accounts. Reports 96 species from Kansas (table says 97 on p. 10; text says 98 on p. 10) and 11 "probable but unverified" species and subspecies. The second edition has updated taxonomy, added Plestiodon laticeps, and removed Eurycea tynerensis.
1972 Klauber, Laurence M. Rattlesnakes. Their Habits, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind. 2 Vols. 2nd ed. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. pp.
1974 Collins, Joseph T. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Public Education Series (1):283 pp
Joseph T. Collins first Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Smith 1956)>
1978 Palmer, William M. Sistrurus miliarius. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (220):1-2
1982 Collins, Joseph T. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. 2nd edition. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Public Education Series (8):
Joseph T. Collins second Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Collins 1974)>
1984 Secor, Stephen M. and Charles C. Carpenter. Distribution maps of Oklahoma reptiles. Oklahoma Herpetological Society Special Publication (3):1-57
1991 Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. pp.
1993 Collins, Joseph T. and Suzanne L. Collins. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. Third Edition. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Lawrence. 397pp.
Joseph T. Collins third Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Collins 1982)>
1998 Conant, Roger and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed, expanded. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. pp.
1998 Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians & Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 131pp.
2002 Kingsbury, Bruce and Joanna Gibson. Habitat Management Guidelines for Amphibians and Reptiles of the Midwest. Publication of Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Address not given. 152pp.
2006 Taggart, Travis W. Distribution and status of Kansas herpetofauna in need of information. State Wildlife Grant T7. Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Pratt. vii + 106pp.
2009 Hubbs, Brian and B. O'Connor. A Guide to the Rattlesnakes of the United States. Tricolor Books, Tempe, Arizona. pp.
2010 Collins, Joseph T., Suzanne L. Collins, and Travis W. Taggart. Amphibians, Reptiles, and Turtles of Kansas Eagle Mountain Publishing., Provo, Utah. 400pp.
Joseph T. Collins fourth Kansas herpetology. <Need to get species total and principal differences with previous 'version' (= Collins 1993)>
2011 Ernst, Carl H. and Evelyn M. Ernst. Venomous Reptiles of the United States, Canada, and Northern Mexico. Volume 1. Heloderma, Micruroides, Micrurus, Pelamis, Agkistrodon, Sistrurus. Johns hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. pp.
2012 Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada: Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 152pp.
2016 Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston. 494pp.
2017 Crother, Brian I. (editor) Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. Eighth edition. Herpetological Circulars (43):1-102
2019 Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada. Third Edition. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 192pp.
2020 Daniel, Richard E. and Brian S. Edmond. Atlas of Missouri Amphibians and Reptiles for 2019. Privately printed, Columbia, Missouri. 86pp.
2021 Holding, Matthew L., Jason L. Strickland, Rhett M. Rautsaw, Erich P. Hofmann, Andrew J. Mason, Michael P. Hogan, Gunnar S. Nystrom, Schyler A. Ellsworth, Timothy J. Colston, Miguel Borja, Gamaliel Castaneda-Gaytan, Christoph I. Grunwald , Jason M. Jones, Luciana A. Freitas-de-Sousa, Vincent Louis Viala, Mark J. Margres, Erika Hingst-Zaher, Inacio L. M. Junqueira-de-Azevedo, Ana M. Moura-da-Silvaf, Felipe G. Grazziotin, H. Lisle Gibbs, Darin R. Rokyta, and Christopher L. Parkinson. Phylogenetically diverse diets favor more complex venoms in North American pitvipers. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of the United States of America 118(17):10
2024 Myers, Edward A., Rhett M. Rautsaw, Miguel Borja, Jason Jones, Christoph I. Grünwald, Matthew L. Holding, Felipe Grazziotin, and Christopher L. Parkinson. Phylogenomic discordance is driven by wide-spread introgression and incomplete lineage sorting during rapid species diversification within rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalus and Sistrurus) Systematic Biology syae018():
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Travis W. Taggart © 1999-2024 — w/ Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University