 Hellbenders are present in a number of Eastern US states, from southern New York to northern Georgia, including parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, and even a small bit of Oklahoma and Kansas.The subspecies (or species, depending on the source) "C. a. bishopi" is confined to the Ozarks of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, while "C. a. alleganiensis" is found in the rest of these states.Some hellbender populations—namely a few in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee—have historically been noted to be quite abundant, but several man-made maladies have converged on the species such that it has seen a serious population decline throughout its range.