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Agkistrodon contortix
Copperhead
Florida native
Venomous
Found in wooded areas near water, such as open woodlands surrounding wet-bottomed ravines in only four Florida counties; Escambia, Gadsden, Liberty and Santa Rosa. The range of copperheads extends throughout the southeast, west into Texas to Nebraska, north into Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts.
Copperheads are tan to light brown with dark hourglass-shaped crossbands. The venom of copperheads is less virulent than most pit-vipers. Although envenomation from a copperhead is a very unpleasant experience, it is usually not life-threatening unless a person has a particular sensitivity to the venom.
The Florida subspecies is Agkistrodon contortix contortix, the southern copperhead. The copperhead pictured here was seen in Kentucky, and could be a northern copperhead, A. contortrix mokasen.
Agkistrodon contortix is a member of the Viperidae - Vipers & Pit Vipers family.
Other species of the Agkistrodon genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Agkistrodon conanti - FLORIDA COTTONMOUTH
Date record last modified: Oct 19, 2013
