Agkistrodon
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 Copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix
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Common names: moccasins.
Agkistrodon is a genus of venomous pit vipers found in North America from the United States south to northern Costa Rica.<ref name="McD99"/> The name Agkistrodon is derived from the Greek word ancistron, meaning fishhook). Three species are currently recognized.<ref name="ITIS">Agkistrodon (TSN 174295). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 2 November 2006.</ref>
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[edit] Geographic range
Found in North America from the northeastern and central USA southward through peninsular Florida and southwestern Texas. In Central America on the Atlantic versant from Tamaulipas and Nuevo León southward to the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize and Guatamala. Along the Pacific coastal plane and lower foothills from Sonora south through Guatamala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua to northwestern Costa Rica.<ref name="McD99"/>
[edit] Species
| Species<ref name="ITIS"/> | Authority<ref name="ITIS"/> | Subsp.*<ref name="ITIS"/> | Common name | Geographic range |
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| A. bilineatus | Günther, 1863 | 3 | Cantil | Mexico and Central America. On the Atlantic side it is found in Mexico in Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, possibly northern Veracruz and Chiapas (in the Middle Grijalva Valley). On the Yucatan Peninsula it occurs in Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and northern Belize. On the Pacific side it is found from southern Sonora in Mexico south through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua to southwestern Costa Rica. On the Pacific side the distribution is almost continuous, while on the Atlantic side it is disjunct.<ref name="McD99"/> |
| A. contortrixT | Linnaeus, 1766 | 4 | Copperhead | United States (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts), Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila). |
| A. piscivorus. | Lacépède, 1789 | 2 | Cottonmouth | In the eastern United States from extreme southeastern Virginia, south through peninsular Florida and west to Arkansas, southeastern Kansas, eastern and southern Oklahoma and eastern and central Texas. A few records exist from along the Rio Grande River in Texas, but these are thought to represent isolated populations that possibly no longer exist.<ref name="McD99"/> |
*) Not including the nominate subspecies (typical form).
T) Type species.<ref name="McD99"/>
[edit] Taxonomy
As of 1999, Agkistrodon only includes New World species. For the Old World pit vipers previously assigned to this genus, see Gloydius. The species Agkistrodon rhodostoma (Malayan Viper) was renamed as Calloselasma rhodostoma in the early 1990's.
[edit] Cited references
<references/>
[edit] External links
- Genus Agkistrodon at the EMBL Reptile Database
- Agkistrodon at Herpbreeder.com. Accessed 26 September 2006.de:Dreieckskopfottern
