Combinations

• Crotalus piscivorus Lacépède, 1789: 130 [original combination]
• Scytale piscivorus — Daudin, 1803: 344 [subsequent combination]
• Natrix piscivorus — Merrem, 1820: 131 [subsequent combination]
• Trigonocephalus piscivorus — Holbrook, 1838: 63 [subsequent combination]
• Cenchris piscivorus — Gray, 1842: 51 [subsequent combination]
• Toxicophis piscivorus — Baird & Girard, 1853: 19 [subsequent combination]
• Ancistrodon piscivorus — Cope, 1860: 336 [subsequent combination]
• Agkistrodon piscivorus — Jordan, 1888: 199 [subsequent combination]

Synonyms

• Acontias leucostoma Troost, 1836: 176
  • Holotype: unknown, probably lost.
  • Neotype: CHAS 5604, adult ♂, collected by W.F. Ross in 1935. [designated by Gloyd & Conant (1943: 164)]
  • Type locality: “western district of Tennessee”, redesignated by neotype designation to “10 miles northeast of Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tennessee” by Gloyd & Conant (1943: 164).

• Toxicophis pugnax Baird & Girard, 1853: 20
  • Holotype: USNM 61063 (formerly 4262), head only, collected by J.D. Graham [U.S. and Mexican Boundary Survey].
  • Type locality: “Indianola, Tex. [=Texas]”.

Primary references

• Lacépède, B.G.E. 1789. Histoire naturelle des serpens. Tome Second. Hôtel de Thou: Paris. 462 pp. BHL Reference page. 

• Troost, G. 1836. On a new genus of serpents, and two new species of the genus Heterodon, inhabiting Tennessee. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York 3: 174–190. BHL Reference page. 

• Baird, S.F. & Girard, C. 1853. Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1.–Serpents. Smithsonian Institution: Washington. xvi + 172 pp. BHL Reference page. 

• Gloyd, H.K. & Conant, R. 1943. A synopsis of the American forms of Agkistrodon (copperheads and moccasins). Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 7(2): 147–170. Reference page. 

• International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 1987. Opinion 1463. De Lacépède, 1788-1789, Histoire Naturelle des Serpens and later editions: rejected as a non-binominal work. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 44(4): 265–267. BHL Reference page. 

Additional references

• Burbrink, F.T. & Guiher, T.J. 2015. Considering gene flow when using coalescent methods to delimit lineages of North American pitvipers of the genus Agkistrodon. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 173(2): 505–526. DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12211 Reference page. 

Links

• Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. 2022. Agkistrodon piscivorus. The Reptile Database. Accessed on 21 May 2021.
• Hammerson, G.A. 2007. IUCN: Agkistrodon piscivorus  (Least Concern). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2007: e.T64298A12756313. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T64298A12756313.en