While working in the Hyperbaric unit of a hospital near LA in the early 1980's a first aide instructor from the Navy told us that the Mojave green rattlesnake was produced by the cross breading experiments carried out by the military during the 1950's and 60's. Can anyone please set the record straight, as I can not locate any data to backup this claim.

While working in the Hyperbaric unit of a hospital near LA in the early 1980's a first aide instructor from the Navy told us that the Mojave green rattlesnake was produced by the cross breading experiments carried out by the military during the 1950's and 60's. Can anyone please set the record straight, as I can not locate any data to backup this claim.

 

The claim seems incorrect. The Mojave Green Rattlesnake seems to have been identified, named Crotalus scutulatus, and written about in 1861 by Robert Kennicott

 

http://biostor.org/reference/49081 - it's on the second page

And a real chapeau to Biostor http://biostor.org/ for having facsimiles and searchable titles for hundreds of years of multiple journals all up for public access