The Classifications of the Northern Copperhead

The northern copperhead is a venomous snake species found in the central and eastern regions of the U.S. The species grows up to around 3 feet in length and has a distinctive red coloring to its head, which gives it its name. Like all living species on the planet, scientists have given it classifications based on the families of animals to which it is most closely related.

  1. Class

    • The first classification for the species is its class, which for the northern copperhead is reptilia. Other classes in nature include mammals, amphibians and fish. The species shares the reptilia class with all of the world's species of snake. Also listed in the class are lizards, turtles, alligators and crocodiles. The class is also closely related to the Aves classification, which includes all bird species.

    Order

    • The order into which an animal falls is a further subdivision of its class. As a snake, the northern copperhead falls into the order squamata. The order itself further subdivides into sauria, which includes all lizard species, and serpentes, which consists of all snake species. The common traits in all serpentes members are the lack of eyelids and external ears, meaning that all snakes are deaf. The northern copperhead is just one species in a list of between 6,500 to 7000 squamata members.

    Family

    • Once the order into which an animal is a member is set, the next division is into what are known as family groups. These groups list the animals by common characteristics that they all share and by genetic similarities. The northern copperhead is in the viperidae family, which all share long, hollow fangs that are used to inject venom into prey. All members of viperidae also have triangular-shaped heads and are almost all ambush predators. Members of this family of snakes are found on all continents, except Antarctica and Australia.

    Genus

    • The genus of a species is the last subdivision in which animals are classified. The species most closely related genetically are listed together in a genus. For the northern copperhead, its genus is agkistrodon of which there are 29 recorded species worldwide. In the U.S., members of agkistrodon, other than the copperheads are the cantils, cottonmouths and Mexican Moccasins. All of the members of this genus are known as pit vipers due to the heat sensitive pits between their eyes that are used to track prey.