Image of Agkistrodon contortrix pictigaster Gloyd & Conant 1943

Description:

This 2005 image depicted a venomous trans-Pecos copperhead snake, Agkistrodon contortrix pictigaster. As the southwestern-most subspecie, it is the only copperhead that ranges across the Rio Grande into Mexico (Cambell and Lamar 2004). It lives in a variety of habitats throughout the Chihuahuan Biotic Province of southwestern Texas and adjacent North-central Mexico, and is therefore, present only in the southwestern extreme of the hurricane-prone area of the United States (Gloyd and Conant, 1990), which is of importance to those who live in these regions, and first-responders offering aid to those affected by such a disaster. Its home includes riperian woodlands, forested canyons, canebrakes, and dry scrubby flatlands, preferring piles of dead cane that accumulate along rivers, which makes it particularly vulnerable to being translocated by rapidly rising flood waters (Gloyd and Connant, 1990) such as those associated with hurricane-associated floods.
Created: 2005