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Agkistrodon contortrix (LINNAEUS, 1766)

IUCN Red List - Agkistrodon contortrix - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaViperidae, Crotalinae, Serpentes (snakes) 
SubspeciesAgkistrodon contortrix contortrix (LINNAEUS 1766)
Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus GLOYD & CONANT 1934
Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen PALISOT DE BEAUVOIS 1799
Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster GLOYD 1969: 220
Agkistrodon contortrix pictigaster GLOYD & CONANT 1943 
Common NamesE: Southern Copperhead
laticinctus: Broad-banded Copperhead
mokasen: Northern Copperhead
phaeogaster: Osage Copperhead
pictigaster: Trans-Pecos Copperhead
G: Kupferkopf 
SynonymBoa contortrix LINNAEUS 1766: 373
Ancistrodon contortrix — BAIRD 1854: 13
Agkistrodon contortrix — BAIRD & GIRARD 1853: 17
Trigonocephalus contortrix — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1494
Cenchris atrofuscus — THEOBALD 1868
Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix — GLOYD & CONANT 1990
Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 227
Agkistrodon contortrix — LINER 1994
Agkistrodon contortrix — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 236
Agkistrodon contortrix — BOUNDY et al. 2012

Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus GLOYD & CONANT 1934
Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus GLOYD & CONANT 1934
Agkistrodon mokasen laticinctus — GLOYD & CONANT 1943
Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus — GLOYD & CONANT 1990
Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 228
Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus — CROTHER 2000: 56
Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus — BOUNDY et al. 2012

Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen (PALISOT DE BEAUVOIS 1799)
Agkistrodon mokason PALISOT DE BEAUVOIS 1799
Cenchris mokeson DAUDIN 1803
Agkistrodon mokasen mokasen — BURT 1935
Agkistrodon mokasen mokasen — CONANT 1938
Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen — GLOYD & CONANT 1990
Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 226
Agkistrodon contortrix mokeson — WELCH 1994: 11 (in error)
Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen — CROTHER 2000: 56
Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen — BOUNDY et al. 2012

Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster GLOYD 1969
Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster — GLOYD & CONANT 1990
Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 227
Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster — CROTHER 2000: 56
Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster — BOUNDY et al. 2012

Agkistrodon contortrix pictigaster GLOYD & CONANT 1943
Agkistrodon mokeson pictigaster GLOYD & CONANT 1943
Agkistrodon contortrix pictigaster — GLOYD & CONANT 1990
Agkistrodon contortrix pictigaster — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 228
Agkistrodon contortrix pictigaster — CROTHER 2000: 56
Agkistrodon contortrix pictigaster — BOUNDY et al. 2012 
DistributionUSA (Texas, E/C Oklahoma, E Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, S Illinois, S Indiana, S Ohio, Iowa,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, S New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts),
Mexico (NE Chihuahua, N Coahuila)

contortrix: E Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana

laticinctus: C/NC Texas, into C Oklahoma, north to Kansas

mokasen: Massachussetts, Connecticut, SE New York, N New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois.

phaeogaster: Kansas, Missouri, Texas

pictigaster: Texas, adjacent Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila); Type locality.—Maple Canyon, Chisos Mountains, 5,200 feet elevation, Brewster County, Texas; Holotype: Chicago Acad. Sci. No. 4857. Map legend:
TDWG region - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.

NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and this does not always work properly. We are working on it.
 
TypesTYPE(S): The type specimen was not found among Linnaean materials examined by Lannberg (1896) and by Andersson (1899, 1900) [from McDiarmid et al. 1999] 
CommentVenomous!

Type species: Agkistrodon mokasen Palisot de Beauvois, 1799 [= Agkistrodon contortrix (Linnaeus, 1766)] is the type species of the genus Agkistorodon PALISOT DE BEAUVOIS 1799.

The monophyletic Florida subspecies of A. piscivorus may be a distinct species (at 4.8% SD), whereas two western subspecies of A. contortrix also appear to constitute a single distinct species, pending additional analyses. We conclude that both species of Agkistrodon can be used as suitable ectothermic models to gauge impacts of future climate change (DOUGLAS et al. 2009).

Reproduction: viviparous; facultative parthenogenesis (BOOTH et al. 2012). 
References
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