The 5th Subspecies!

Of the 5 subspecies of copperheads, Agkistrodon contortrix, I had seen four in the field. I still lacked the Osage form, A. c. phaeogaster.

It seemed that the Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma home range of this, the northwesternmost of the five subspecies, was just a bit out of my normal scope of roaming. When Kenny and I found ourselves herping Kansas a couple of years ago, the Osage copperhead became an eagerly sought snake.

Friends told us to do this or do that and we would be unable to miss seeing the pretty snake, but we had been told this for other taxa and some of these "sure things" not only initially failed but we were, years later, still looking. We had a nice relaxing trip to central Kansas, found a lot of snakes, and were now driving a long route back to Florida via eastern Kansas and central Texas.

We had plenty of time to stop and search for copperheads. We straggled into northeastern Kansas and barely turned southward when we noticed a rocky wooded spot such as we had been told to watch for. We stopped, hopped out, turned a half dozen rocks, found two burrowing crayfish, some plains ring-necked snakes, and ---what do you know-- our target, a beautiful two-foot-long Osage copperhead.

Although we looked for and found more on the way south, the finding of that first one was for both Kenny and me the most exciting. It rounded out an already great trip.

More photos below...

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.