Venomous. Tan with darker brown hourglass-shaped bands. Bands sometimes thinly bordered with white. Belly mostly patternless, but sometimes with lower spots between bands extending onto belly. Heat-sensing pits. Pupils elliptical. Juveniles with bright yellow tail. 
Species: A. contortrix (Eastern Copperhead) and A. contortrix-laticinctus (Eastern / Broad-Banded Copperhead hybrids)
Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019
This species is represented by 903 records from 41 sources: 669 museum (
), 0 literature (
), 0 research (
), and 179 observation (
), with 55 additional Trauth et al. (2004) locality points remaining unsourced (
). It has been museum vouchered for 70 of 75 counties (), with 3 additional counties having other forms of reported occurrence (). Years of collection range from 1861 to present.
This species occurs statewide. Some hybridization with A. laticinctus (■) may occur in the southwest corner of the state (Burbrink and Guiher, 2015; Powell et al., 2016), but the extent of this influence is not well established.
