Climatic temperature and precipitation jointly influence body size in species of western rattlesnakes.

Both the metabolic theory of ecology and dynamic energy budget theory predict that climate influences body size through its effects on first-order determinants of energetics: reactive temperatures, carbon resources and oxygen availability. Although oxygen is seldom limiting in terrestrial systems, temperature and resources vary spatially. We used redundancy analyses and variation partitioning to evaluate the influence of climatic temperature, precipitation and their seasonalities on multivariate body size across the distributions of four species of the western rattlesnake group in North America (, , and ).

Use of scalation landmarks in geometric morphometrics of squamate reptiles: a comment on homology.

Geometric morphometrics (GM) is a powerful analytical approach for evaluating phenotypic variation relevant to taxonomy and systematics, and as with any statistical methodology, requires adherence to fundamental assumptions for inferences to be strictly valid. An important consideration for GM is how landmark configurations, which represent sets of anatomical loci for evaluating shape variation through Cartesian coordinates, relate to underlying homology (Zelditch et al. 1995; Polly 2008).

Geographic variation in morphology in the Mohave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus Kennicott 1861) (Serpentes: Viperidae): implications for species boundaries.

The Mohave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) is a highly venomous pitviper inhabiting the arid interior deserts, grasslands, and savannas of western North America. Currently two subspecies are recognized: the Northern Mohave Rattlesnake (C. s.