Both splits that were proposed by Guiher et al are not really usable in the real world. A. controtrix has been split into two species WITH large amounts of gene flow. This gene flow is shown in a figure in their paper to encompass a swath of between 50 and 200 miles from the coast of Texas, north into Kansas. So all of the snakes that fall into that hybrid zone are not definable to species. If this paper is going to be used then please make an A. contortrix "complex" taxon so that the hybrids can be placed into copperheads instead of being relegated to only generic level ID. The same goes for A. piscivorus in the south east with an even wider area of "hybridization" between the two species.

Thanks bouteloua. I was wondering where all the hubbub might be happening. Best of luck with this one.