U.S. States with the Most Venomous Snake Species

No Florida? That's hugely surprising to me.

Some surprise omissions for sure. What is the source for this quiz?

Not to be contrarian, but I'm somewhat skeptical of this list. 1) The author of the list denies that it's authoritative. 2) The line between species and sub species are rather blurred and most of the species listed would be considered to be subspecies. 3) The list is heavily skewed because of one person, Roger Conant. He was the first person to write a comprehensive taxonomy book on the reptiles and amphibians of North America. He was a professor at University of New Mexico and he spent most of his time cataloging species in the American Southwest. Most field herpetologists specializing in American snakes are connected to him. I spent a month in college running around south Oklahoma with one of his direct disciples and got lots of stories.

I am also skeptical of this list, at least as far as my own state of Missouri. The Missouri Department of Conservation lists only five venomous snakes for Missouri - copperhead, cottonmouth, timber rattler, western pygmy rattler, and massauga. I checked the source and it counts subspecies, too. The northern and southern copperheads on the list are subspecies, as are the western and eastern massaugas. Eastern massaugas are now considered extirpated from our state. The source still listed both of them but failed to include the prairie massauga which is another subspecies found in the state. The western pygmy rattler is a subspecies, too, but it's the only pygmy rattler found in the state and so should be counted. I prefer to go with the MDC list and leave the count at five. If one includes subspecies then seven would be correct, but the source is still incorrect as it includes the extirpated eastern massauga and does not list the prairie massauga.

I wanted my state to be at the top of a quiz... just not this one