| Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) |
| Synonyms: Sistrurus catenatus catenatus, Massasauga |
Sistrurus catenatus is a small rattlesnake found in mid-western North America, mostly in the Lower Great Lakes Basin, although it reaches the Upper Mississippi Valley in Iowa and Missouri. In Ontario, this species is largely confined to the northern Bruce Peninsula and the eastern Georgian Bay. The Eastern Massasauga is a habitat generalist inhabiting a mosaic of coniferous forests, wetlands, barrens, prairie remnants and old fields. It feeds on small mammals (mostly rodents and shrews) and occasionally fledgling birds. This species declined or disappeared over much of its historic range due to a combination of habitat loss, persecution, and lately road mortality.
Previously, all Massasauga rattlesnakes were treated as subspecies of Sistrurus catenatus (i.e., the eastern subspecies was known as S. c. catenatus); the species has been recently split, and the western and desert subspecies, which range as far south as northern Mexico, have become the Western Massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus). This taxonomic split is still disputed.
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D50136 Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) Bruce Peninsula Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved |
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D32829 Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) Bruce Peninsula Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved |
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D28687 Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) Bruce Peninsula Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved |
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D28504 Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) Bruce Peninsula Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved |
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D32827 Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) Bruce Peninsula Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved |
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D49954 Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) Bruce Peninsula Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved |
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D45084 Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) Bruce Peninsula Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved |
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D41632 Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus); neonates Bruce Peninsula Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved |
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